Tribulation on my own
by Brisalad
Summary: After breaking off ties with his friends and family; Aang is forced to face a dangerous secret on his own. A secret he kept hidden for 3 years from those who care about him which causes the young Airbender to distance himself from all who love him. Can he withstand the pain and keep his secret unknown or will he let it slip in the worst possible way? Please Read!
1. On my Own

**A/N: Hello guys! So this is the new story I've been telling you about. I'm not sure if it's any good, so please read and let me know on whether to continue or not. Many Thanks! Also to those reading** _ **'Will they ever understand?'**_ **I promise I'll update as soon as I can, unfortunately my college thought to kindly give us a ton of homework over the holidays, which sucks, oh well, so never fear I will update as soon as I can! Anyway, now my new story**

"So that's it then…it's finished…I hope you all enjoy your lives and thanks for everything." I grab my glider and hop on, flying high into the sky, the distinct shouting of my name caught in the midst of the wind, but I don't dare look back, I don't need them to see my tears.

"He'll be back won't he?"

"I don't know."

"Of course he will, this is Aang, he can't stay mad at us." Sokka states firmly, as if his notion is based on pure fact.

"You are forgetting this is the same Aang who ran away from his people and didn't return to the world until a hundred years later." Toph mumbles under her breath, but still clear enough for the whole gang to hear.

"Come on guys we didn't do something that awful." The Firelord argues back.

"Oh yeh, you taking probably the most precious thing to him is not going to hurt at all."

"Hey you were on my side a moment ago!"

"Only because Aang looked like he was going to pop and unleash his Avatar fury, not to mention he did kind of step out of line…" The water tribe warrior trails off, a far-away look present on his face

"Guys he'll come back, we are his friends…he has too." Katara asserts, trying to switch the subject away from the memory of Aang nearly losing control.

"Well some friends we are then."

Meanwhile…

I fly further and further away, not paying attention to where I'm going, I don't care where I go just anywhere away from them. I soar through the clear blue sky, the sun beating down on me, a stark contrast to my feelings within.

I was going to tell them, so close, tell them a secret that I kept from them for five months since one month after the end of the war. So close yet so far. A hidden truth that I wanted not to burden my dear friends with. But I couldn't take it. It was painful. Though not as painful as my own family's betrayal. The betrayal of Katara being with Zuko, it sickens me so. After all I've done for them, and the fact that everyone turned against me – those closest to me, they all knew. They all knew, but me. Well if they will hide something like that, then my only payback that won't go against my culture is not revealing to them my secret…

The secret of my several attempted assassinations. Yes I've voiced it clearly in my thoughts; I have had many attempts on my life and I've been hiding it from them this whole time.

You probably think I'm mad; why would I hide that? They can help. They can put an end to it before I'm ended first. Because I fear for their safety. It's only a matter of time before they target those close to me so that they can taunt me, well they won't be doing that any time soon. Because I have no friends, nor family or anyone close to.

I am utterly alone. I am the last Airbender. The lone Avatar and single restorer of peace. The only one able to fly into the skies, to hear the song of the wind playing its tune, to feel as it caresses my face, to taste the sweetness of the air itself and to smell the alluring scent of freshness. That's it. I will from now on go through the motions, live yet not alive, present in body but empty in spirit, awake but lost, represent the world and attend meetings but imbalance will rest in my own heart. This happens when you have nothing to live for, such as me.

3 Years Later…

I'm startled awake, the light footsteps barely sounding in my senses before a jet of fire is shot towards me. I leap into the air, spin around and send an air slice to the assailant. I hear a small 'ummph' showing I hit my mark. If it wasn't for Toph I would have been a goner long ago, seismic sense is one of the best things she's ever done for me. Though I can't thank her for it though. I haven't spoken to any of them in three years and I intend to keep it that way. A loud bang brings me out of my thoughts as I duck from the on fire.

I close my eyes in search for my attacker. But something surprises me even more is another being along with the first. Before I have time to register the other assailant I'm hit fully on the chest, causing me to stumble a few steps backwards. But that's not enough to bring me down, I've had a lot worse.

I slam my foot down, the earth shooting up all around me leading to an imbalance in their stance, I allow the corner of my mouth to move slightly upwards and I use their weakness against them, I move with as much grace as an airbending prodigy can muster, my moves quick but precise, I twist my arms around each other – making spiral movements, pushing the air around me and forcing the two attackers into the centre, then swiftly force the rocks to encase the two into a temporary prison with bars. I walk towards them, one is snarling at me and the other is wearing a creepy smirk, making me frown ' _he's got something up his sleeves.'_

Before I can react he lifts his arms up and sends a spear-like rock towards me, I'm so startled on the fact he's an earthbender, ' _an earthbender and firebender working together, how absurd!'_ I'm too slow to counter the attack and get pierced right into my upper arm, this time bringing me down to my knees. I glance up to find him breaking my makeshift prison and in moments he's towering above me, his hands raised. I try to move but my shoulder screams in pain.

"Some Avatar you are! You can't even defeat a couple of amateur benders, I don't understand how you could beat our stronger division but not the weaker one. And you defeated the former Firelord? I find that hard to believe." My eyes widen, this means there's some sort of cooperation that's trying to kill me. Wow I feel better already. Just as he's about to deliver the final blow, I swipe at his legs with my own sending fire from them. I stiffly get to my feet and from a pond nearby bend the water and freezing him to the spot. The broken air currents alert me to move to the side before I'm hit and soon enough the firebender is also imprisoned in earth. I let my breath out in shaky gasps. Straightening myself out, disguising a wince I cautiously step towards the earthbender, placing a hand on his forehead and chest I take away his bending. The first time since the fall of Ozai. I wouldn't use this normally, but the idea that being attacked for all these years is down to some crazy group and defeating them has never turned them away, I'm hoping this may deter them, at least for a while.

"What… what did you do to me?!" He shouts, trying to prevent the tears from falling but I see in his face that he already knows.

"The same as I did to Ozai." He tries to lunge at me, but weakly so, his energy drained.

"You coward! You think you're brave but you aren't. You deserve to be hated, I want to see you burn and to be crushed to the ground. All what you've done is nothing. One day I'll be back for you and you will regret the day you messed with me!" His words shakes me to the core but I don't display any emotions and simply sigh.

"You are the one who came to kill me, I haven't done anything to harm you, yet you attack me. Why can't you people leave me alone? Why do you want to end me? What have I done to you to deserve this?!" I raise my voice towards the end of my onslaught of frustrations and questions.

"You've destroyed the world! Everyone is suffering from the aftereffects of the war, lost beloved ones and you've done absolutely nothing!"

"Are you forgetting who I am?! I lost my whole nation! My people from that war."

"All due to your own fault." I squint my eyes, glaring at him with hatred. Doesn't he know how I spend my every waking moment cursing myself for that very reason? But what has that got to do with him? I've made it up to the world by ending the century war.

"Anyway the war ended three years ago. Repairs are being made so what is your problem with me exactly?"

"My problem is that you didn't kill Ozai." I stumble backwards in shock.

"You mean you've been trying to kill me for over three years just because I didn't kill the previous Firelord? Are you … are you mad?!"

"Not if you see it from a different point of view. As you should know there are riots and rebels all over the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, since Ozai isn't dead he can take back the throne and reign havoc once again."

"But he can't do that if has no bending!"

"Not if he has his daughter to obey him." My eyebrows furrow in thought and my suspicion begins to grow.

"Why and how would she do that?" But the man simply shakes his head in silence. "How do you know this?" I question further, but again he remains silent.

"I will tell you one thing though. You have barely made an appearance to the public, many are doubting you, many are beginning to think there is no need of the Avatar. To rid everyone's empty hope in the Avatar and to be able to take control in their own hands – to heal the scars left on the world is to take out the Avatar himself, stop the cycle so that a new age may begin." My eyes widen with utter disbelief.

"But the world can't gain balance unless the Avatar is present. He's the one who restores peace. Not to mention I need to revive the lost nation so that the world can truly live in balance."

"But you haven't been present. You've been spending all your time at these deserted temples, people think you are abandoning them."

"For one thing these **'deserted temples'** happen to be **MY HOME**! And another, I would never do that."

"Yeh just like you would never have wanted all the Air Nomads to be killed or for a war to be raging on for a hundred years, well it happened! Me and the Snipers aren't going to rest until you're gone, permanently."

"Wait you and the what?" But that's the last word I get out of him. And he shifts his gaze to the ground, I turn to find the same from the firebender. I let out a frustrated sigh, _'this is more serious than I thought.'_

I take a few steps away from them, trying to calm my mind that's in turmoil _. 'Great I've got a whole group of people who wants me dead and I have no idea how many of them there are, it could be hundreds! And on top of that I have to face all of this on my own.'_

I shake my head, I haven't had a decent sleep in three years, yes that's right you heard correctly. 3 years! I manage 4 hours each night and if I'm really lucky I get 5, but I guess I haven't been so lucky these days. I sit down and take up my meditative position, ' _what do I do with these two assassins?'_ In all the times I've had these attempts they always retreat, but this time they weren't planning to leave until they ended me once and for all.

I sigh, I guess I should take them to the police station for arrest. But only one problem, the Chief of Police happens to be one of the people who hates my guts…. Toph and of course the other two are Katara and Sokka. Surprisingly enough Zuko is excluded, I suppose that's because Zuko and I see each other so often that we were forced to put our differences aside for the sake of the world. Not to mention he broke up with Katara 2 years ago, guess he couldn't take the guilt any longer and oh the awkwardness that accompanied it. Though I still distance myself from him, from all of them, it's safer that way. But I can tell that Zuko knows there's something wrong; I reckon the dark bags around my eyes gives it away and the occasional wince here and there. I still see Sokka from time to time since he is on the council but he looks like he despises me like if I'm some sort of stench that won't go away. Toph acts in a similar manner except with more aggression, luckily I haven't seen her in the last 9 months though I presume that's going to change tonight, isn't it? As for Katara I haven't seen her since that day… 3 years ago.

I get up and bind their wrists with very strong and secure ice, a trick I picked up from Katara, and dump them on Appa, instructing him to go to Republic City. _'When was the last time I went there?'_ Dread begins to trickle down into my stomach… it was 3 months ago, I try to forget that; I don't need another reason to hate myself.

Soon enough the vast beauty of Republic City looms into view, we descend down, bringing the two benders with me or rather one bender and one ex bender. I feel every fibre of my body and every muscle tense up as I enter the police station, begging with my whole heart and praying to the spirits that the Chief is on a break or has finished for the night.

As I walk further in, the police station is strikingly quiet with only a single receptionist/security lady at the desk, allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief. I stroll over, the two assassins aren't even posing a struggle to prevent the enviable. I cough subtly to catch her attention by drawing her eyes away from her computer screen, in which she responds by jumping and widening her eyes in shock, I guess it's quite surprising to find the Avatar here since I haven't stepped in here since the place opened, 2 years ago.

"Hi just another two criminals that need to be put in prison." She nods swiftly, not bothering to ask specifically what crime they committed. One of the very few advantages of being the Avatar – no one doubts your authority. Just as I'm about to walk away though a voice splits through my ears, making my blood turn cold temporarily.

"So nice of the Avatar to grace our humble police station." The hard edge mingled with that sarcastic tone causes me to whirl around so fast that it's unbelievable that my airbending didn't assist me, and here I am face to face with my old earthbending sifu, who was once one of my best friends. Shockingly enough this is the first time she's actually spoken to me in three years. We stand like that, as if frozen in time for several moments, staring at each other, but eventually I'm forced to glance away unable to hold her gaze and even though she can't visibly see me, I can't stand to witness her obvious fierce dislike of me which is written plaintively on her face.

"You going to explain yourself?" She forcefully demands with a growl, which suddenly shakes me out of my trance and I resume my rigid posture. I clear my voice to overcome the overwhelming bile in my throat.

"There's no need of an explanation. Just handling a couple of trouble makers into your care." My reply coming out more stiffly then I intended. I watch as she raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms over chest, by her action I know she's not going to let me escape that easily which honestly confuses me, ' _in the past few years she's always tried her best to avoid me, of course from time to time trying to make me trip up, but other than that totally not wanting to have a thing to do with me, so why now?_ '

"And they are being charged with what exactly?" My heart begins to race _, 'I am certainly not going to tell her that!'_ So I do what all airbenders would've done in my position, I turn on my heels to flee, but a giant earth wall is drawn up in front of me, mere inches from my face and thus blocking my only exit. I know and she knows that there's no point in pulling it down, she'll just make another one, after all she is the one who taught me practically all I know, not to mention the fact that when Toph wants an answer she nearly always gets it.

"The receptionist didn't ask for an explanation, so why do you?" Toph crosses her eyes dangerously.

"I'm no receptionist am I? I'm the Chief of Police, so the quicker you answer my question the quicker you can dash off and by the feel of things you are just itching to escape aren't you Avatar?" I flinch at the sharp tone she emphasises on that title, leaving no room for our past friendship and it shouldn't hurt since I'm used to the cold treatment by now but the thing is, it does hurt… a lot. A thought pops into mind, ' _she really does hate me…they all do.'_ I realise that I'm heavily breathing and let out a deep sigh in surrender.

"Fine I was walking and I got jumped by these two. So charge them on assault." I pause momentarily and wince slightly at the striking pain traveling along my arm. "Oh and battery as well." A look of amusement passes along her face, _'why didn't I keep my mouth closed, oh why?'_

"Why has these two weaklings managed to hurt the big strong Avatar?" She mocks me, giving rise to my slowly increasing rage.

"You said I can go when I've answered your question, to which I have and now I'm taking my leave."

"Yeh, but the thing is Avatar you were partially lying. You said you were walking around at which your heat beat jumped meaning you aren't telling the whole truth. Now spill, before I put you in the interrogating room!" _'I can't believe I forgot Toph can detect even the smallest of lies.'_ So I choose to ignore her and with as much agility as I can muster I form a hole in the roof and jump out of the building; leaving what I would suspect a severely annoyed and angry Toph. ' _I am not looking forward to the next time I bump into her._ ' I think as I jump onto a ledge of the building, throwing my glider into the night sky and leaping onto my treasured gift. Zuko found dozens of items belonging to the Air Nomads from when Sozin attacked, hidden safely in one of the Palace's chambers, my trusty glider being one of them, the only good thing that's happened over these 3 years. _'Why can't anything in life be easy?'_ The wind passes me by, with a voice drifting into my ears from deep within my subconscious,

 _Since when has life as the Avatar ever been easy?_

 **A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter of '** _ **Tribulation on my own'**_ **. Please review and let me know your thoughts! Reviews are seriously a big boost of encouragement which I really need to carry on** **Thank You for reading!**


	2. Need to Help

**A/N: Hi guys, this is my next chapter, hope you enjoy!**

 **Next Day…**

As soon as the Head Council man calls the general meeting to a close, I'm standing before anyone else and quickly making my way out of the room. As I stride further away from the area I hear the rapid pattern of someone running after me, before I think to panic though, I visualise the person with my seismic sense, relieving me to know it's only Zuko, which brings my feet to a sudden halt, I spin around to face him. He soon reaches me and begins a conversation.

"Aang you look awful!" I frown at his choice of words _, 'he was chasing after me to tell me that?'_

"Thanks Zuko I really needed to hear that."

"Sorry but it's true, not to mention you were falling asleep in that meeting; something I'm seeing more and more often. What's happening?"

"Nothing has happened; I'm the same."

"No, you haven't been the same for the last three years now." I sigh heavily, rubbing my forehead in frustration.

"Zuko I told you numerous times to stop bringing this up. You've been badgering me about it non-stop!"

"That's only because you never tell me the truth!"

"How many times do I have to tell you I'm fine?!" I begin to holler, before realising that I'm attracting too much attention from a couple of the nobles, so I drop my voice to a hushed whisper. _'Can't Zuko leave me alone? I haven't told anyone about what's wrong for 3 years, does he really think he can get it out of me now?'_

"Yeh right that's why you have big dark circles around your eyes."

"That's just for staying up late doing all those letters, signing documents and stuff."

"I highly doubt that you have to do that every day and long into the night, since I have to do the same thing." I see him smirk in a way to say that he's got me trapped, well I'm not giving in and I'm not an earthbender for nothing; I've gained their stubborn quality.

"I'm not having this conversation." I turn quickly on my heel giving Zuko my back and I'm about to sprint away from him until I feel a heavy hand clasped on my shoulder, I turn ever so slightly so that I may look at him in the eye.

"I just need to make sure you are ok Aang. You've withdrawn from all of your friends which isn't healthy." I snort at his use of the word _'friends'_. I've disconnected myself from all of them ages ago, that isn't something that _**friends**_ do. But my heart leaps for a moment at his concern, making me feel slightly guilty at not being able to tell him anything. But soon enough my thoughts return to that word and I can't help but to chuckle slightly with some malice being added in.

"Ha what friends? You mean the old gang who hates my guts."

"They don't hate you…" I cut through his sentence before he can continue because I know the truth, it's blatantly obvious.

"Sure, that's why Sokka casts me an evil glare whenever he sees me or ignores me entirely, or Toph who shoulders me roughly and earth bends the ground underneath me so that I may fall right on my face, or what about Katara? Who hasn't put one footstep in Republic City since its grand opening and lives all the way in the South Pole because she _**knows**_ she won't ever bump into me. Yeh they don't hate me at all." I shrug his hand off my shoulder and stalk off without a backward glance, leaving Zuko standing alone shaking his head and absorbed into his own thoughts, ' _I've got to do something, any moment now he'll collapse from whatever exhaustion he's exerting on himself.'_

 **Zuko's POV:**

 **Later that evening in Sokka's office…**

"Hey Sokka." The water tribe councilman glances up at me from his piles of work with a grin.

"Oh hey your fiery majesty and how are we this fine day?" I scowl at him for the teasing but let the comment slide, for now. I have more pressing issues to deal with.

"Doing alright I suppose, would be better without the nickname though."

"Oh but it comes with the job!" I simply shake my head at his enthusiasm.

"Anyway I want to ask you a couple of things, if that's alright?"

"Sure fire away! Ha get it? Because you are a firebender and they…"

"ALRIGHT, alright!" I clutch at the bridge of my nose with irritation, _'this probably was a bad idea.'_

"Ok, ok I was just joking around, no need to blow a gasket." He defends with his hands out in front of him.

"Anyway… I was wondering firstly whether all the peace treaties are being upheld, particularly in the Southern Water Tribe? I want to make sure they are receiving the supplies they need with no problems."

"All peace treaties are smoothing down nicely, looks like after three years people seem to be ready to move on. Southern Water Tribe are doing great! With all the help we've been receiving we are well on our way to become like our sister tribe in no time. Well there have been a couple of times when we didn't receive the required equipment, but we sorted it out."

"Hmm interesting, I'll check on that later then. But glad to hear everything is going straight forward."

"Yep. Now what's the second thing? I've got to get these papers done in two days from now. Not that I don't enjoy chatting with my good old fire friend but you know deadlines."

"Yeh I know what you mean. Well what I wanted to ask you was a favour really."

"Concerning…?" I take a deep breath preparing for the uproar that is certainly about to occur, _'well no going back now.'_

"Aang." I see his grin drop immediately, his eyes harden and his face blank of any emotions for several seconds until…

"WHAT?!"

"Sokka let me explain!"

"NO! I told you before that I'm not going to speak about HIM ever again and you agreed!"

"Please Sokka…"

"Nope I'm not hearing another word. I'm going to ask you kindly to leave my office now before I get out my trusty boomerang."

"Can't you listen for a…" Sokka reaches for his drawer and pulling out his beloved weapon he points it at me.

"OUT!"

"There's something wrong with Aang." I calmly state in a hope that he will take my words in consideration. I watch as he pauses in mid-action of swinging the boomerang, his facial expression for once is impossible to read. But I do take notice that he's thinking my statement over in his head.

"I told you not to mention his name."

"I know, I know, but this is urgent." Sokka slowly sets his boomerang down out in front of him. He leans back on his chair, closing his eyes for a moment and rubbing his face as if he's tired from the whole conversation already. He eventually opens his eyes, looking directly at me, piercing me with his clear blue eyed gaze.

"I'm only asking because you are my friend and you're worried, but other than that I would have kicked you out by now… so what is it you have to say?" The councilman asks taking on a hard edge tone.

"Aang…"

"The Avatar."

"Whatever! I feel like there's something up with him. He hasn't been the same since the end of the war."

"I don't think any of us are."

"What I mean is, he's exhausted all the time to the point that he's falling asleep in important meetings…"

"So what if he's tired?"

"Can you please let me finish?!" I growl at him for his consistent intrusion. He gives me a curt nod and so I do. "I also realised that his movements tend to be jerky at times, his body rigid, so unlike the posture of an Airbender. I've caught him a good number of times wincing as if the action pained him. One time while we were walking in the palace gardens the wind was so strong it pulled back some of his robes and I saw a massive bruise on his forearm. What do you make of all this?"

"He could have just bumped into something." Sokka responds with a lack of interest and absent from all concern.

"No, because when I questioned him about it he refused to say anything, acting all uncomfortable and not offering any explanations. There has to be something wrong." Sokka frowns for a moment at my words, before speaking.

"I'm not sure." He settles on saying.

"Come on Sokka, you and Katara know him the best. You must have some idea."

"I might have thought I knew him back then, but three years changes a person, that's if I ever knew him at all in the start. At the moment I don't know him at all and I prefer it to stay that way…" My shoulders slump slightly at his answer, I look at the floor in frustration, _'this isn't going as I planned at all.'_ Sokka seems to have pity on me because I hear him clear his throat and attempts to be more helpful, for my sake. "…All I can say is that sleep deprivation that he has is most likely due to nightmares." I glance up at him again, his expression still stony but neutral, so I question further in the hope that I'll retrieve more information.

"Nightmares?"

"Yeh he used to get plenty of those when we were traveling."

"Any idea what about?" Sokka shrugs at me.

"Not really, he usually confined to Katara about this stuff. Hmm well I do remember he had a nightmare about failing in the invasion and er guilt about the Air Nomads."

"But he can't be having nightmares for three years straight! That's pretty much impossible."

"After what I've experienced in my life, anything is possible."

"I wonder what about?"

"How should I know?!"

"Don't you care what's going on with him?"

"As far as I'm concerned I stopped caring a long time ago, like three years ago in fact."

"Now you are just lying to yourself."

"How would you know? He's just a selfish bald monk that doesn't care about anyone. He ran away from all of us when we tried to talk to him. He called us his acquaintances for goodness sake! How dare he? He told the public we were only people who helped to bring about the end of the war and nothing more, he actually said that. He never cared about us so no I do not care about him and I intend to keep it that way!"

"But…"

"I've put up with this conversation long enough. Now can you escort yourself out please?" Sokka hisses between his teeth, taking on the mask of coldness, sending me a slight chill down my spine at his unusual manner, but I press on not intending to give up any time soon. So I say the one thing in my mind that I'm sure will drag his attention, I hope.

"I think someone's hurting him."

"Don't try to guilt trip me!"

"Please Sokka I need your help." I plead to him, for probably the fourth time in my life, I Firelord Zuko am begging for help, help to save the Avatar from whatever he's going through, help to save Aang – our friend.

"What can I possibly do? I've already given you my time."

"Please can you interrogate him?" I see him physically reel back in shock.

"Have you lost your mind?!"

"No, I've asked him so many times over the years, I need your help."

"Usually I would be flattered that you need my help, but on this occasion I'm livid. You know how I feel about this!"

"What about if I can persuade Toph to join, will you come?" And right then, in this thickly tense atmosphere the unexpected happens… Sokka bursts into fits of laughter, clutching his belly tightly with tears streaming down his face. The longer he laughs the more it gets on my nerves.

"What's so funny?" I growl at him for the second time during our little meeting. Finally he stops his laughter and wipes the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand.

"You must be mad if you think you can persuade Toph! We are talking about the same Toph right? You know the Toph who dislikes Aang more than me and, as she likes to call herself, _**'the greatest earthbender in the world.**_ **'** You know earthbenders are famous for their stubborn nature and since she is the _**'greatest of them all'**_ then she has the most stubborn nature I've ever seen. You really are dreaming now."

"Hey I have my ways!"

"Oh yeh, like what?" As soon as he questions me, I pause to think about it, soon realising I have no idea how I'm going to persuade her, I unfortunately am forced to give Sokka a very lame response.

"Erm my charm." This leads to more sniggering from Sokka's side of the room. Finally he straightens himself out and stretches his hand out to shake.

"Alright you have a deal. If you can convince her to take part in this questioning thingy then I'll tag along too. And for your information I'm only doing this because I know there's no chance in heaven or earth she will agree." I stretch my own hand and clasps his in mine, shaking it.

"Fine, you'll see."

"Ha yeh we shall." At which he grins at me, knowing that I'm going to fail miserably. "When are you going to ask her?"

"Well in three days' time we are having a Complete Official Meeting Week. I'm sure you've heard about it right?" Sokka looks at me meekly while scratching the side of his face.

"Heh yeh of course, how can I have not heard of it?" He flicks his wrist in a confident manner.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

"Err no clue…"

"SOKKA! Those are crucial!"

"Sorry, I haven't had the time to look at my mail, what with getting quite side-tracked with these papers and stuff…" He trails off at the look of my face, in exasperation I slap my forehead.

"All the nobles, world leaders and even the White Lotus will be there to discuss every pressing issue there is, from peace treaties and trading to discussing new agreements and affairs in the four nations!"

"More like three nations." Sokka mutters under his breath so quietly that I nearly miss it, _nearly_.

"No in the FOUR nations." I emphasise.

"I'm just saying that there is only one person in the fourth nation, it's pretty much ext…"

"Don't finish that sentence!" I lean forward towards Sokka so that I am merely inches away from his face. "You have just taken a step too far old friend." Sokka looks at me in shock at my sudden change in demeanour.

"Ok I'm sorry! I take it back ok?" I pull back from him and straighten myself out.

"You've become really cold towards Aang and I don't like it at all, you two used to be like brothers. I know it's partly my fault for driving him away with… well you know, and it's Aang's fault because he didn't and still doesn't want anything to do with us, even after I broke up with Katara. But to be honest I expected all of you to try harder especially with what you've been through with him, rather than just giving up after a couple of months. I mean true friends wouldn't stop trying till they succeed." After my long winded speech I finally take in a deep breath and gaze at Sokka's amazingly enough still neutral face which genuinely surprises me. Not once did he move to interrupt but he also didn't display any expression at my words, _'He may just be good at hiding his emotions, or maybe I simply don't know him well enough like I thought I did, unlike the others,'_ I message the temple of my head, before continuing. "Well I have my Firelord duties to attend to, thanks for sparing some of your time for me." I glance at Sokka one last time to see him now looking down at his boomerang in front of him, twiddling his thumb. Finally do I turn on my heel to leave, closing the door gently behind me, but just before it closes completely I hear a faint,

"Could I have tried harder?" But it's so faint that I'm unsure whether I imagined it or whether it's real. But either way I smile and walk towards my office, in the hope that I possibly hit a nerve.

 **A/N: I hope you have enjoyed this chapter and Please Review, tell me your thoughts. Thank you for reading**


	3. Last Recruit

**Two Days Later…**

"I want you to get those reports NOW! We can't leave this criminal to be running around the public." I shout at one of my lower ranking commander, who I feel trembling in fear with such a rapid heart rate that I momentarily think he may have a heart attack. His shift in stance indicates to me that he's bowing down with profuse apologies tumbling out of his mouth.

"Many apologies Chief. We have sent out some officers to follow a few leads and hopefully will have him by the end of the week." I stomp one foot in irritation.

"I do NOT want hopefully, I want definitely! And we can't wait until the end of the week. You have until tomorrow midday and if you prove to be unsuccessful then I'll have to relieve you of your duties." Again he bows several times, each time bending lower and lower till it seems he may hit his head on the ground. The thought makes me smirk inwardly.

"Of course Chief, we will definitely have him by then." I finally nod my head in approval.

"That's what I like to hear, now you may leave officer." I motion with my hand for him to escort himself out and just as he leaves, I spin around in the opposite direction to face Sparky, whom I felt approaching in my direction while I was having my conversation, accompanied by Snoozles. I notice as the latter leans closer to the Firelord whispering,

"Let's see how good your charm is." The spike in the Firelord's heartbeat along with a loud gulp tells me that this is going to be interesting.

"What do you guys want?"

"Err well you see…" I cross my arms over my chest in impatience.

"Out with it Sparky. I'm a very busy women who needs to catch criminals and keep the City safe; I don't have all day to waste."

"Yes sorry Toph, I wanted well erm your help in a particular matter."

"Which is?"

"Well I really hope that you will agree to help me. It's kind of more like a request and after all what we've been through together, what with helping each other out and-" I stretch my arm out, having my hand a mere inch away from Zuko's face, which abruptly stops the meaningless words he been sprouting out.

"I don't want to listen all day to your jabbering nonsense. What does _**'I'm a busy women'**_ do you not comprehend?"

"Erm…"

"On second thoughts don't answer that." I rotate on my heels to my left hand side now facing Snoozles. "Since Sparky over here doesn't seem he can utter a single coherent sentence any time soon, any chance you can enlighten me?"

"Ha well actually this is something that Zuko wants to ask. I for one have no interest."

"Well if that's the case then why are you here?"

"To see if my bet will be fulfilled, which by the looks of things it will." I frown, they came to me concerning some dumb bet? Great my time really is being wasted. I turn back to Sparky who hasn't attempted to release his stiff posture.

"Fine Sparky if you don't tell me what you want in precisely 3 seconds I'm going to send you flying all the way to Omashu."

"Oh." The spike of fright in Zuko's heart tells me he knows that I'm not joking.

"Starting now."

"Ok well you see…"

"3"

"I want your help…"

"2"

"…with erm…"

"1"

"…detecting something wrong with Aang!" He blurts out, his words freezing me with shock and the bubble of hatred growing immensely within my inner self.

"You what?!" I whisper with such ice in my voice that even Snoozles breathing rate picks up the pace.

"I need your help to sort out something with Aang…" Zuko's voice comes out so small, as if he only realises now the mistake he has committed.

"If I ever hear that name again, I will seriously not be the blame for my actions." I spin on my feet swiftly and am about to stomp away before he catches my attention with four simple words,

"Guess you don't care."

"Care about what? The Avatar? All I'm going to say is good riddance to him."

"But there's seriously something wrong with him. You are the only one I know who can find out what it is."

"What makes you think I want to know?! What makes you think I want to get into a 10 metre radius of that, that ignorant lowlife! Now leave me alone!"

"Toph for arguments sake we'll leave you out of the equation. We need him, the world needs him. If something were to happen to him, everything will fall out of balance and we all depend on the balance. Only a few months ago there was a rebel attack, without him I wouldn't be standing here!" He pauses for several seconds before continuing in a more whispered tone, "He saved my life. The whole Fire Nation will be in destruction as we speak, especially since I don't have an heir to take over." I let out a low pitched scream, his incredibly frustrating words unfortunately true. The image of Zuko's close brush with death makes me squeeze my eyes, shutting out the picture before reopening them and turning around to finally face them again.

"I really don't like you, you know that?" I don't need to have sight to know that Sparky is probably grinning like a lunatic.

"No way, you are actually agreeing?! That's so not…" I shoot Snoozles a glare stopping his speech in its tracks.

"Who said I was agreeing?" At this the Firelord's heart rate comes to a rapidly low pace, worrying me for a split second before eventually sensing the calm continuous beating of his heart. "I need to analyse if this is worth my time and my sanity. As you know I hate the guy and would prefer not to be anywhere near him." They both lean closer towards me, one obviously eager to persuade me. "Why are you so keen to interrogate him and why don't you do it yourself? Are you worried he'll lie? Do you know why he might lie?"

"Err…"

"Do you even know the answers to my questions? Because if not I'm out of here."

"I fear that something is bothering him. He is knackered all the time, as if he never gets any decent amount of sleep. At times he also seems to be in pain with a rigid posture and attempting to hide his wincing. I've asked him about it numerous times over the years, but he's always dodged my questions, stating he's fine, when I clearly see in his very eyes that he isn't."

"Years?" I question in puzzlement.

"Yes, for about three years now." I frown at his words, _'Aang_ _ **the Avatar**_ _in pain?'_ The thought suddenly awakens the memory from a few days ago about seeing him for the first time in 9 months and our first conversation (as brief as it was) in 3 years. What catches my attention more was how I had noticed clearly that he had indeed winced. He had even gone as far as admitting to charge those two people for battery.

"Toph…?" Snoozles' voice brings me abruptly out of my thoughts. I look up with a _'hmm'_ coming out of my throat, still thinking about the unusual circumstances of him appearing at my police station. I shake my head in an attempt to clear my head from these thoughts and decide to throw Zuko a question myself.

"And what do you think is wrong with him?"

"I'm guessing that someone may possibly be hurting him." A soft _'oh'_ escapes me. ' _Why would someone be after the Avatar? Why hasn't he said anything to Zuko? After all he seems to get on well with him,'_ I think with some bitterness added in.

"Right…" I trail off, but my friends shift their stances. I presume they must have realised that something is up.

"Toph are you alright?"

"Yeh just dandy." I reply dryly, licking my lips to moisten them.

"Toph even I don't need earthbending to know that you're lying." I raise an eyebrow in minimal amusement, ' _guess I've managed to let my mask fall by accident. Well I might as well tell them of the little that I know.'_

"Fine I spoke to him a few days ago. Or rather he came to the police station." The both reel back in shock.

"Wait, you are talking about Aang right?" Sokka questions, which is weird. I haven't heard him say _**'his'**_ name in so long. It seems strangely foreign to my ears. I cross my arms yet again, wearing the mask of annoyance to disguise my surprise.

"Who else do you think I'm talking about?"

"Hey I had to make sure!" Zuko steps in front of Sokka in an attempt to fend off the upcoming argument.

"Why did he go there? He hasn't stepped foot in that building for ages." I rub my forehead, a little bit wary of his reaction on what I'm about to say to him. I sigh, ' _well here goes nothing.'_

"He came to give in a couple of 'criminals', he said they jumped on him while he was around the City."

"WHAT?!" They both screech in union with more added shock.

"Wait how did you find that out? He doesn't exactly pour out this information to someone he hasn't spoken to in a long time."

"Gee thanks. For your information I have my ways." At this Snoozles bursts into snorts of laughter, trying my already thin patience to its end. "What's so funny?" At my growl the laughter falls off his mouth and he straightens himself out.

"Oh nothing, I just heard that really recently from someone else." I shake my head, not even wanting to know.

"Guys we need to focus!"

"Focus on what exactly?" I ask, boredom dripping in my question, which Zuko chooses to ignore.

"Focus on the fact that I'm probably right! I mean why would someone want to attack the Avatar? Did you interrogate these men? What nation are they from? And most importantly WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" Sparky's thundering shout actually makes me jump. Me, _**'the greatest earthbender in the world'**_ jump. There is seriously something wrong with that statement.

"Who do you think you are to shout at me, oh great Firelord? I don't need to report to you for every criminal in my prison. I'm the Chief of Police, or have you forgotten that? Would you like me to throw you in prison with the other two?" I begin to holler at the top of my lungs. Zuko's small but easily recognisable footsteps move slightly further and further away from me, one step at a time.

"I'm really sorry Toph. I shouldn't have shouted at you, you don't deserve that. I'm just so worried and confused on what's happening with Aang and he refuses to tell me anything which could be costly." I can feel my anger slowly ebbing away, replaced with slight understanding.

"Yeh you shouldn't have."

"Yes and I'm deeply sorry." I sigh at his honest genuineness and decide to let it go this one time.

"Apology accepted, just make sure not to do it again."

"Definitely."

"Now to put an end to this long winded conversation, I agree to this interrogation thing. But I doubt you'll get much out of him. He has become quite stubborn."

"I wonder where he learnt that from." Snoozles' muttering is as clear as a bell in my ears. I shift my foot to the side, allowing the floor to sink beneath him and causing him to fall flat on his face.

"When are you going to learn that I hear every word you say no matter how quiet you think you are being, which by your standards Snoozles isn't very quiet at all." He pushes himself up from the ground and I'm so sure he's directing a glare of hatred at me, which fortunately I can't see. "If you are glaring at me, then you might as well say whatever you want to say to my face." No response comes from him apart from incoherent grumblings and he picks himself up from the floor. Zuko coughs bringing my attention back to him.

"Did you interrogate those two criminals then?" I release a frustrated sigh.

"Of course I did! What do you think I do, laze around in my office all day?"

"Well no, but I thought you wouldn't since it's connected to Aang." I lift up both eyebrows, ' _does he think I'm a heartless person who won't do my job due to my dislike of a certain person? Of course not!'_

"To clarify to you yet again, my job is to keep the City safe. If those two have the guts to fight the Avatar then they must be some powerful people, either that or they are just plain dumb."

"Oh right, definitely. I know that. So what did they say?" I release yet another exasperated sigh.

"Unfortunately they weren't any help. Wouldn't budge at all to the point I couldn't get them to utter a word. In my whole career so far this is only the second time that I've come across someone I can't grasp the information I want." I hear a faint slap of skin to skin, so I assume it must be Sparky slapping his forehead or something.

"Well that's a pain. Do you know where they are from?"

"One certainly from the Fire Nation because he tried to melt his chains, which wasn't very bright to be honest. And well the other one, I was informed he wasn't wearing any clothes from a particular nation. But the strange thing is, he acts as if he were a bender, more specifically he holds himself as if he were an earthbender, but he couldn't even tremble a pebble. Another thing was I sensed that he had some strange aura, which I vaguely recognised. So no idea about the last one, sorry."

"That is really weird, but you are certain he's a non-bender."

"Yeh in the end he can't bend anything."

"Alright we could try to question them again later, but for now Aang is on the top of our list. So you are definitely in then?"

"Just to put an end to your whining I agree. But this is NOT because I want to see or talk to him. It's just for the benefit of the world, that's it. I don't feel like fighting in another war."

"Don't worry I heard that from someone else… and you know what? I think you do care, just like Sokka. But you both don't want to admit it because of your hurt feelings." My heart thunders hard against my chest. I clench my jaws tightly together.

"Just because I agreed to help you, doesn't mean I want to hear this garbage talk ok?"

"Alright, alright, I'm just saying…"

"Whatever… When are you asking him? Because I've got a schedule to keep in line with."

"You are attending that Official Meetings Week right?" I blow my bangs out of my face.

"Of course I am! Every significant figure is going. I know I'm blind but that doesn't mean I don't have someone to read my mail."

"Oh no sorry Toph I didn't mean that at all. Just Sokka over here didn't know about it till 3 days ago."

"But I had that letter a month ago."

"Well somehow he managed to not read or know about it this whole time."

"Hey! I'm a very busy person. It's not my fault I haven't had time to check my letters!" I snigger, that's so like Snoozles not to check his mail for a whole month.

"Well instead of picking on me, when are we going to pick on him?" This time it's Zuko's turn to be irritated.

"Why can't you guys stop referring to _**'him'**_ and _**'he'**_ all the time? You all know his name for goodness sake!" Neither I nor Sokka makes a move to respond. _'Zuko just doesn't understand, he only joined the group in the last month or so. Of course he doesn't feel as betrayed as we do. Aang the Avatar doesn't care about us. So by not referring to his name but rather his title, it shows that we are being indifferent to him, our own payback. A silent agreement between me and Sokka. Of course I'm not going to tell that to Zuko, I mean what does he know?'_

"You haven't given me the day we are doing this yet."

"So what you are going to ignore my question, just like that?"

"Alright I guess you don't need my help then because you seem like an expert on questioning people with things that don't concern you." I turn around, twisting on my bare feet swiftly, but then slowly taking steps away from them, but not slow enough for them to realise my lack of speed. Because the truth is… I do want to find out what has happened to…Aang over the years, is he the same, or has he changed? Has he made new friends and forgotten about us? Is there a reason why he rarely comes to the City that he helped created? Since our gang broke up, I've only seen Katara five times over the years, I guess it doesn't help that she lives so far in that icy wasteland that I despise, why couldn't she choose to be nearer to all of us? I bite my lip, do I miss how things were, back when it was just the four of us on Appa? I shake my head, no I don't, I knew it was just a temporary thing to end the war. I've never cared about him, he was just my pupil. Then why do I have that dull ache when people mention his name? I grew too attached, that's what it is, but I'm over that now…

"Toph please come back, I'm sorry ok?"

"Fine, the date please so I can continue my day." I state stonily, not bothering to face them again.

"There are two meetings each day for the week, so what about the evening of Monday, after the second meeting?" I feel as a penny drops in my stomach, that's tomorrow.

"Sure, I'll meet you outside the Meeting Hall." I respond tightly before finally striding away from them.

"That's great, see you there. Thanks Toph!" Zuko's words drifting to my ears.

"See you." I shout over my shoulder while still continuing on my way, away from them. With my mind in turmoil, _'I can't believe I've agreed to see him, someone I detest.'_ I sigh _, 'well it's about time I confront him and see what his problem is, and why he literally ditched us. He better have some very good and persuasive explanations of the way he treated all of us, otherwise he'll be in a world of hurt.'_

 **Meanwhile with Sokka and Zuko…**

"I can't believe she agreed, she actually agreed!"

"Well it wasn't easy."

"Yes but still!"

"Looks like I won the bet. This means you have to join us."

"That's not fair I was so sure she would have made you go flying to the opposite end of the Nation."

"Tough. See you tomorrow." And with that Zuko strides away from an obviously annoyed Sokka.

 **Sokka's POV:**

As Zuko walks away I'm left on my own standing with my thoughts of all what I've been hearing. _'I can't believe I'm going to talk to Aang in the first time in 3 years! I wonder what Toph felt when she talked to him in the first time in ages. Was it despite, longing, sadness, guilt or anger? Probably all five.'_ I sigh at the thought, _'is he the same? Of course not he's not a childish monk any more, he has matured, and become more confident but withdraws from most people. I realise now how much I'm not looking forward to this exchange but then in the same time a small insignificant and I mean insignificant part of me is.'_ This confliction between my emotions increases my frustration. _'Why couldn't Zuko just leave this alone, we were all doing fine without stirring up these unwanted feelings. How lucky is Katara, using the South Pole as her buffer from all this mess, if only I could do that and not have to see the Avatar's face every time I have to go to a meeting, which might I add is very frequent. We aren't friends with him, why can't he accept that? Life was so much easier living in the Water Tribe before meeting Aang more than four years ago.'_

After I think that though, a flash of memories stream in front of my mind's eye including, flying for the first time on Appa, meeting new people and villages, learning of what to me was a new but nearly extinct culture, having the opportunity to fight Fire Nation soldiers after all the disaster they created, meeting Suki and not long after Yue, witnessing awesome things that many people have not seen, the day we met Toph, the desert, Aang's rage and sadness, finding Appa again, having to split up, seeing Aang lifeless in my sister's arms, hugging him when he awakens from his long slumber, our group hug, learning to master sword fighting, the last battle and Ba Sing Se tea shop. All these memories leave me feeling slightly dizzy, I rub my forehead trying to ease the tension that has settled there. I eventually shake my head, _'oh who am I kidding, life got better after meeting him, why did he have to muck it up? Did we really mean that little to him?_ ' Finally I decide to put my wild thoughts on a leach, for now anyway, well apart from one thing, _'I really need to find that letter otherwise I'll make a fool out of myself in front of all those important people.'_ I begin to walk in the opposite direction from Toph and Zuko, towards the safety of my office, away from all these thoughts.

 **A/N: As always I hope you have enjoyed reading this chapter and please review, the more reviews the more likely I am to update :)**


	4. Questioning

**A/N: Hi everyone! Ok I know I can't apologise enough for the lack of updates, I mean I haven't updated in nearly a year! That's bad, that's really bad. I hope you can forgive me; I just had so much work to do it's unbelievable, like university application, controlled assessments and revising for my final year before uni. I hope you guys are still around and that this long chapter will hopefully make up for my absence. Anyway I hope you enjoy.**

As I walk towards the elaborate hall, where all the meetings will take place as of today till the end of the week, a sense of dread consumes me. Well to be honest I can't remember the last time when I wasn't filled with this sense of dread, but today that sensation has tripled. I'm going to sit through that meeting while Sokka throws me looks as strong as daggers from his piercing blue eyes, with Toph's and Zuko's presence as well. I swallow with difficulty, the dryness of my throat evident; nearly the whole gang will be present all at once for the first time in years. Just one thought passes through my head as I finally reach the massive doors, _'this is going to be painstakingly awkward.'_

Taking one last deep breath to try to ease my nerves, I push open the door. The room is already half full with nobles, representatives for each nation and other important figures. As I move to take my place next to Zuko, I don't need to look up to know nearly, if not all, pairs of eyes are on me. I let my eyes focus on the vast mahogany table before me, praying that they will continue with the conversations they were having before I entered the room. A small movement to my left catches my attention, looking up I see Zuko sending me a reassuring smile, his eyes filled with kindness and concern. I try to return it, but as soon as I do it comes out as a grimace instead; my body still in pain from my latest confrontation, but also the idea of smiling seems almost foreign to me.

I turn my attention back to the table, waiting for the meeting to start. As the agonising minutes tick by of doing absolutely nothing, the Head Councilman finally clears his throat, demanding attention from everyone present and so the chatter dies down immediately.

"Good afternoon. I'm happy to know that everyone invited has showed up to our second meeting of the week. I'll quickly explain to those who weren't present in the morning the layout for the coming week. Each meeting will be approximately 2 hours long with a 30 minute break halfway. There are two meetings each day for a week; which means, if everything goes according to plan, we will be finished in the week. As you all know, this meeting is regarding issues with the Earth Kingdom, more specifically the current issue with an overflow in the population size…" As the Councilman continues with his long winded explanation, I have an internal battle with myself for staying awake and thinking of ways in which we can persuade King Kuei to lend more land to the much needed small united city that Zuko and I have established…

 **3 hours later…**

"So it's settled, Republic City will receive 10 more acres of land and in return we will give £100 000 to the Earth Kingdom. This sum will be paid off over the years, through taxing the people who lives in the City. Anyone who has further issues with this settlement must speak now." The councilman pauses for several minutes, in which silence pursues. Only the raspy breathing of those who were shouting during the entire meeting were clearly heard. Finally he speaks up again. "Now that's out of the way, a document will be sent to all of you sometime this week for your signatures of approval and then we can build on this city in the coming months. I again thank the Avatar's, Firelord's and the Earth King's presence with us today to settle such matters. For now I declare this meeting over."

The Head Councilman stands up, bowing to us all to which we return and strides out of the hall, many others follow his lead and slowly trickle out of the room to probably their beds after such a physically and mentally exhausting meeting. I have a quick glance at the time, seeing it to be nearly 8 o'clock. I place my elbow on the table and put my head in the centre of my palm. I feel my eyes drooping, on the verge of closing, I fight with myself for what has to be the tenth time during the last couple of hours to stop myself from sleep, ' _with all these nightmares and assassination attempts, I can't ever get a decent amount of sleep! Once I nearly did nod off, if it wasn't for Zuko elbowing me, I know I would've made a right spectacle of myself, but then again it wouldn't be the first time_.'

However, I am rapidly pulled out of my thoughts when a firm hand is placed on my shoulder, having thought I was the only one left in the room I jump from my seat in haste. Inspecting the person to find it to be just Zuko, I release a sigh of relief.

"Hey, are you alright?" I shake my head in an attempt to shake away the drowsy feeling and rub my eyes to clear the sleep dust from them.

"Yeh, feeling great."

"Then what are you still doing here? Everyone cleared out 15 minutes ago." I blink at his statement in surprise, ' _guess I was fighting against sleep for longer than I thought._ '

"Oh sorry, I guess I nearly dozed off. Well I should go to my room to prepare for tomorrow's meeting." I give my back to him with the full intention of fleeing away, however his hand is still clasped on my shoulder and doesn't seem like he will let go any time soon.

"Aang stop it!" His shout causes me to face him again, with my eyes blinking in confusion, ' _what is he on about?'_

"Er stop what exactly?"

"Stop pretending that you are alright all the time when you clearly aren't!"

"Oh man, not this again!"

"Look Aang, we need to talk." I open my mouth, ready to argue with him, until he puts a hand out, shooting me with a frustrated glare, letting my words die on my throat. "And don't say that there's nothing wrong, because I know you are lying." I clench my jaws in equal frustration, I shrug his hand off and move away from him, ready to bolt out of the door with the help of my airbending speed.

But in a mere matter of seconds, I feel something hard clamp onto my ankles, pushing me towards one of the walls, causing me to fall onto my knees, and not long after another set of what I could only presume to be metal cuffs come flying at me, pinning my wrists to the wall, immobilising me. All in under a minute. I'm so shocked from the display that my brain stops functioning, unable to do anything for myself. Zuko walks towards me, before stopping a metre away. The very movement seems to be what shakes me out of my frozen state.

"What in the world are you doing?!"

"Not his doing but mine. I doubt Sparky will ever know how to bend metal." From the shadows at the back of the hall I watch as Toph appears from her hiding spot, her face set in a stony manner, her eyes filled with pure dislike and her stance set, as if ready to fight me. I gulp. A brief second later someone else appears, taking up his position by her side…Sokka. My mouth drops momentarily at witnessing the reuniting of my old friends…or rather all those people who once were my friends. ' _How did I not sense their presence earlier? I must be more tired than I realise and if that's the case it won't take much longer for those assassins to get me.'_ Finally some sense is knocked into me and I try to struggle out of these locks, however while doing so I strain my injured arm from the week before, causing me to wince again at the sudden pain, ' _it was just getting better,_ ' I mutter to myself.

"Aang stop struggling! We aren't going to hurt you or anything; we just want to talk." Sokka clear his throat loudly.

"You mean you want to talk. I on the other hand don't want to be here at all." I try to ignore the water tribe soldier's comment, as much as it stings, and focus my attention back on Zuko.

"If that's the case then, will you kindly release me?"

"No, you'll just run off." I glower at him, until eventually I tear my eyes away from him and stare absently at the ground before deciding to speak again.

"Fine, tell me what you want so that I can leave. I have tons of other things to be doing."

"Liar." That one word from Toph causes me to snap my head up, ' _why has that feeling of dread returned, but increased by tenfold?'_

"Right Aang, I'm going to ask you a few questions and all I want in return is honest answers, ok?" I don't reply and I'm going to make sure I keep it that way. "So first thing, why are you tired all the time?" Silence. "Why do you seclude yourself to the temples?" More silence. "Is there something you're hiding?" At my continued silence I can sense his aggravation settling in by the quickening of his heart rate.

"Alright then, want to tell me why those two people jumped you a few days ago?" At this my own heart quickens in pace.

"Finally results." Zuko gives me his back to look at Toph.

"What do you mean?"

"His heart rate jumped at that question." The Firelord nods confidently and turns to face me again.

"Aren't you going to say anything about them?" My eyes remain glued to the floor.

"Ahh this is getting boring. Step aside your majesty and watch how a real pro works." Sokka strides right up to me, less than a foot away, pushing past Zuko in the process. He kneels down on one leg, keeping the other bent. He gazes at me for such a long time, I can literally feel the tension in the air.

Eventually I risk pulling my head up, looking at him in the eye. Allowing me to inspect his appearance; this is the first time I've been up close to him in years. His face has matured, with a small stubble of hair on his chin, light side burns and his eyes revealing a tired but annoyed look. I realise that he too is inspecting me, taking in what I would expect is my dishevelled appearance with black bags under my eyes. Soon he swallows and opens his mouth to speak.

"So the sleep deprivation, are you going to tell me why that is?" I avoid his hard gaze and stare at the wall beside him instead. _'It feels so weird for him to be actually talking to me, after all this time I can actually inhale the same air he is exhaling, it makes me want to reminisce on the times when we were young and got on so well.'_ "Yeh didn't think so. I mean we aren't friends. Why would you tell me anything? I was just an acquaintance to help end the war right?"

At his bitter words my heart twists painfully deep in my chest. _'He doesn't know how wrong that statement is. He doesn't know that what I'm doing is to protect them, because I care about them so so much. But of course I don't say that.'_ And so I continue with my silent treatment. He leans a fraction of an inch closer. "Tell me are you having nightmares?" Again I feel my heart thudding madly against my ribcage, _'I forgot that Sokka knows me too well sometimes, then again he was travelling with me for a year_.'

"Looks like Snoozles is on the right track." Sokka moves slightly to grin at them with triumph.

"I told you guys I'm a professional." When he looks back at me though, he adopts the mask of coldness once again. I curse myself for letting myself slip like that, ' _if he continues this up, they'll find out a lot sooner that I thought.'_ "These nightmares, do they consist of the affair of the world?" I breathe a quiet sigh of relief at the mistake of the question.

"Gone cold." He scrunches his eyebrows in thought.

"An uprising or war?" A shake from Toph's head proves he is indeed following the wrong end of the stick. "Your position as the Avatar?" I look back at him in shock.

"I've accepted my position ages ago." I respond, finally deciding to speak to him.

"He's telling the truth." I focus my gaze on Toph for a moment, _'why do they keep referring to me as he or him? Did I hurt them so much that they are utterly opposed of saying my name?'_ The thought makes me even guiltier and sadder than before. Sokka frowns for several moments and looks me up and down before finally choosing to say what is obviously on his mind.

"Are they about us?" He whispers in such a low tone that I almost miss it, but I don't and I can't help but let my heart rate speed up at how spot on his guess is. For the first time during this whole exchange Toph looks directly at me with a mixture of confusion and slight bewilderment before returning to her stony expression once again.

"Correct." Instead of Sokka leaping up with joy at his correct and accurate integrating skills, he appears to be even more confused.

 **Sokka's POV:**

' _Aang having nightmares about us? To have a dream or nightmare about someone they have to be on your mind. But he doesn't care about us; we mean absolutely nothing to him. If it wasn't for Toph's acute skills in detection, I wouldn't believe it. I take another look at Aang's appearance. I mean I have barely glanced at him over the three years. From a distance he seems like a strong confident Avatar. But up close with those dark circles under his eyes, his body having lost more weight from his 12 year old self making him stick thin, his eyes slightly bloodshot and what looks like a fading bruise on his check, all tells me that there is indeed something seriously wrong happening in his life. I guess Zuko wasn't exaggerating after all. It makes me want to feel sorry for him, but I catch myself before I do. He hasn't been having an easy few years like the rest of us. I take a moment to ponder my next question, I need to ensure it's one that he least expects me to ask.'_

"Do you have nightmares of anything else?" I watch as his eyes widen ever so slightly that anyone else would have missed it if they didn't know him like I do. _'I guess his facial expressions haven't changed over the years.'_ He looks at me with shock, ' _must be surprised of my perception skills._ '

"Are you going to tell me what else?" But soon enough his gaze returns back to the floor beneath us. I think back to the times when he used to have nightmares when we were traveling with him. ' _Remembering now that he did indeed have nightmares about us, so perhaps it consists of some past fears?'_ "Maybe failure?" Not a single twitch from him. I think again, ' _the only other thing that I know of is the Air Nomads, but he couldn't possibly be having bad dreams about them. He must have got over it…but it's worth trying.'_ "What about the Air Nomads?" His head lowers even more towards the ground. ' _No way! He still feels guilty about it.'_ But then a sudden thought pops into mind, _'Zuko did say that Aang spends all his time when he's not doing Avatar duties in the Air Temples, alone. He must have been pretty lonely considering the rest of us had places to go to after the war.'_ I shake my head, ' _I need to get this pity out of my mind. I can't afford to feel sorry for him, when he didn't care about us, but then why is he having nightmares about us? This is getting a lot more confusing than I hoped for. I've asked about his sleep deprivation, now onto more complicated matters.'_

"So did those guys hurt you?" My question doesn't receive any response. I consider this for a moment, ' _maybe I'm asking the questions all wrong.'_ "So those two guys, do you know them?" I'm surprised when I see a slight shake from the Avatar. "What nation are they from?"

"A different nation from where you and I are from." He responds in a monotone tune. ' _A different nation from mine and his, so that leaves the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, but which one? If he gave me a clue in narrowing down the options why didn't he just tell me which nation specifically, unless…'_

"Are they from different nations then?" A slight nod of his head tells me I'm on the right track, but his words sound bizarre. _'Even though there has been much improvement in world peace, there is still much hostility between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, so I find it hard to believe that they worked together in an attempt to…do what exactly? Capture him? Or was it an assassination attempt?_ That thought unwillingly causes me to wince _. 'Are people really that cold towards the Avatar?'_

"Can they both bend?" My question receives a startled reaction from him, a look of worry passes through his features, but vanishes almost as quickly as it appeared. ' _Now that's bizarre, why would he be worried about whether they can bend or not. He's the Avatar, master of all elements.'_

"Do you know what they are after?" I watch as his head lowers even more, as if wanting to be sucked into the ground. This time I can't help but let sympathy envelop me. ' _I mean I know how Aang used to behave, he was an optimistic goofball, as annoying as it was, what happened?'_ I stand up and tower over him and I can't help but inspect him again. This time I see that his sleeves have been slightly hitched down, as his arms are pinned above his head. But what really catches my attention is a red gash. I step closer and pull his sleeve down a little bit more to revel horrible looking cut, crusting around the edges. Aang is so startled that his head snaps up to look at me. His eyes filled with…what, fear or shock?

"Where did you get that?" I ask, concern starting to fill me. ' _I knew this would happen. I knew that once I saw and talked with him again, I wouldn't be able to continue being mad at him. He's like the little brother I've never had. This is exactly why I kept away. He has a way to penetrate people's outer shell.'_

"It doesn't matter." He mumbles.

"It does matter!" I can't help but shout at him, in which he reacts with a flinch. I sigh and bend down to meet his eyes. "What happened?"

"Why do you care? You've been ignoring me for years. Why don't you just continue with that?" His harsh reply throws me off slightly, but I stand my ground.

"I've been ignoring you?! What about you ignoring me, all of us. After what we've been through, you could have the courtesy to call us your friends rather than deny it in front of thousands of people!" I holler at him, unable to keep my bottled feelings inside anymore. It's three years overdue and it needs to be let out. I watch as he scrunches his eyes shut, as if trying to block out my words. I place my hands on his shoulders and begin shaking him slightly. "What are you hiding from us?" His eyes snaps open and gives me a hard glare.

"I'm not hiding anything!" He shouts.

"He's lying." Toph's voice causes me to spin around. ' _I completely forgot that she and Zuko were still here.'_ I turn back to see Aang once again avoiding my gaze. Suddenly I'm hit with the realisation that ' _Aang never really left because Katara didn't end up with him, no that was just an excuse to leave us. Something must have broken him, something got to him to force him to leave us. The big question now is; what was it?'_

"Why did you really leave that day? It wasn't because of Katara and Zuko was it? Not really." At my question I hear a loud gulp behind me, I assume it must have come from Zuko…it's still an awkward topic for him.

"Can you just leave me alone? All of you, just leave me alone." The weakness and tiredness of his voice actually makes me step back. He was shouting momentarily ago and now he seems to be on the edge of either passing out or crying. Neither of which I could deal with. Katara was always good with this sort of thing, why didn't she come with us to these meetings? Toph shocks us all when she marshes up to the Airbender and grabs his collar roughly.

"Listen here Avatar. I don't have time for your lies and secrets. You better spill before I hurl you into the wall!" Zuko unfreezes from his shock and steps closer to the group.

"Now Toph you shouldn't…"

"Don't even start Sparky. Don't even start." He gulps again at the menacing tone she uses, but takes another step towards us, ready to pull Toph off, if the need arises. Toph pulls Aang forcefully towards her, in which Aang presses his lips together in an effort to stop his muffled gasp, of what I could only guess to be pain. "Tell us what your deal is?"

"Toph get off!"

"Why? You want to know as much as I do what's got into that thick skull of his. You used to complain, shout and I even caught you crying once. All this pain is his doing!"

"I did not!" I bite back.

"You are only lying to yourself." She shifts her concentration back to the frightened boy, subconsciously tightening her grip. I stalk over to her.

"For goodness sake get off, you're hurting him!" I bellow with such might that everyone jumps, including Toph. I watch as she turns her head to me and then back to Aang. Her face trying to mask the sudden guilt she feels at hurting the young Avatar. She releases her hold on him and takes a step back, away from him.

"It would be easier if he just answered the question." She mumbles half in an accusing manner and half in a sorrowful one. After that no one seems to speak for what seems like an eon. The silence stretches out into tension, filled with hidden mysteries and distrust. Something that I would never have imagined if you asked me four years ago. Finally Aang looks at each of us with a regretful expression.

"Can I go now?" He whispers. This time it's Zuko who moves towards him and stands before the Avatar.

"Aang we only want to help you." The airbender releases a frustrated sigh.

"I really didn't want to do this, but you guys left me no choice…I think it will be wise if you all step back." We all throw puzzled glances at each other, _'what on earth is he talking about?'_ As this thought flows through our minds, Aang's eyes suddenly take on a piercing white glow, his hands and arms concomitantly take on the bright glow also, his expression serious and stony; leaving us to behold the pure power of the Avatar. We simultaneously move back without hesitation, _'I suppose Toph has been able to figure out when Aang enters the Avatar state without seeing the glow, I'll have to ask her how she manages to do that later.'_

I watch in awe as he melts the metal on his wrists, once freed he sends a mighty slice of air breaking the cuffs at his feet. He takes a step forward while twisting his arms together back and forth, making a whirlpool of air in which he jumps on and with another gust of wind breaks the ceiling allowing him to escape. A faint sorry from him could be heard as he exits, leaving us all frozen with shock.

"I can't believe he just destroyed our meeting place!" Zuko shouts in shock and anger, once the Avatar is no longer in sight. I smirk at him and say,

"Well I can't believe you thought you could tie down the mighty Avatar. Of course he could escape, that's what airbenders do best!"

"Would you two just quiet down a moment and piece together what on earth just happened?!"

"Well seems to me Aang can melt metal!"

"Not that! I mean we need to understand the little information we've gained from him and piece together the rest." I sigh, _'goodbye to going to sleep early.'_

"This is going to take a while, isn't it?"

 **A/N: Thank you for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review to let me know whether I should continue with this story or not and whether you liked this chapter. Thank you :)**


	5. Discussions

**A/N: I really want to apologise for not updating sooner, but university is literally taking up all my time. But I have managed to write this chapter for you guys, I apologise that it's not even particularly long to make up for my absence, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.**

I open the window to my room using the key that Zuko gave me and stumble in, exhausted. I flop to the floor, lacking any energy to reach my bed. Staring at the ceiling I wonder what I did wrong.  
 _'Going to the police station must have been my worst idea ever, of course Toph was going to be there! I've heard she works herself to the bone, wishful thinking of me that she would have taken the night off. Also how did I not sense them? That costed everything. It's only a matter of time before they catch on. Dumb brain!'_ I slap my forehead hard in frustration _. 'The worst thing is that I have to face them all first thing tomorrow for the water tribe meetings.'_ I shake my head, _'spirits how did it get to this point? Trying to keep secrets from the very people who became my family. What am I doing?'_ I sigh and before I know it, my eyes begin to shut _. 'At least the assassins never seem to attack me when I'm away for meetings.'_ I finally drift off to sleep.

 **Meanwhile... Sokka POV**

"Ok, we are going to have use this room for the meetings for the rest of the week." The Firelord states despondently.

"Ah come on Zuko, it aint that bad!" I say in an attempt to cheer him up.

"Says you."

"Hurry up you slow pokes, I want to get some shut eye before having to be dragged out of bed tomorrow for those boring meetings." We nod, Zuko sits beside her and I sit opposite.

"Ok so what do we know?" I ask.

"He's having nightmares about us and the Air Nomads." The Firelord responds almost immediately.

"Well that's easily explained. He's probably lonely because he lives by himself and..."

"So why does he have nightmares about us?" Toph asks curiously.

"Maybe he misses us." Toph and I look at Zuko ludicrously at his suggestion.

"I doubt that." I snort.

"Well any ideas Mr Genius?" I think about it for a moment.

"Hey Toph you remember Aang used to have nightmares about us just before the invasion?" She thinks for a moment and nods slowly before widening her eyes.

"Yeh and what about when Ba Sing Se fell, he said to Katara that he didn't want any of us risking our lives for him or something." I nod before realising she probably can't see me.

"Yeh! Oh oh and there was a time when Aang had a nightmare about a storm and he lost us in it… I can't remember exactly cos he only told Katara about that but she told me later on… I er wasn't paying attention." Both Zuko and Toph shakes their heads.

"Typical." The blind earthbender snorts.

"Hey my mind was occupied with other things."

"Yeh I bet it was on meat." I cross my arms and turn my head to the right.

"Anyway what does that have to do with anything?" Zuko questions, his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. I uncross my arms and lean forwards.

"I'm not too sure...but doesn't he only have nightmares of us when he thinks we are in danger?" The room falls silent for several minutes.

"That's true. But what is he scared of? The war has ended, the nations are pretty much at peace now." I scratch my head in thought, running over Zuko's question in my mind.

"Maybe it has something to do with those two guys he delivered to me last week."

"How?" Zuko and I ask in unison.

"Well as I said, I didn't get anything out of them when I questioned them. But! I did notice when I asked the non-bender about the Avatar, I sensed some sort of hatred radiating of him. It might have been my imagination, but I was sure he held some sort of grudge." I stroke my chin in thought.

"You think he wants to protect us from those two?"

"But if that was the case everything would've returned back to normal and we would all be friends again." Zuko points out.

"Not to mention we are masters of our element, there's no way he could be scared of a bender and a non-bender." Toph confidently adds in.

"Unless there was more of them around." I say slowly to catch their attention.

"And speaking of non-benders did any of you notice Aang's expression after I asked about whether they could bend?"

"I think your question is actually directed to Sparky there." I blush and rub my neck.

"Er yeh, sorry about that." She smirks and shrugs, happy to have embarrassed me.

"Actually I did, but I didn't think much of it. Do you think it means anything?" I bite my cheek in thought.

"I'm sure it does, but I just can't think what it could be." Zuko sighs and turns to face Toph.

"Going back to those two, do you have any ideas of their aims or motives?"

"When he came by the police station he said they had hurt him, so they had intent to do harm." I listen to Toph closely, hoping for an answer to pop out in front of me.

"But do you think it was intent to scare him or intent to do some serious damage?" I question in worry.

"When you mean damage do you mean...?" I sigh and nod to Zuko.

"Yes, an assassination attempt." I watch as both Toph and Zuko gulp at the thought. Toph then turns her head to the side, her eyes hidden underneath her bangs of hair and Zuko shakes his head vigorously.

"But that's crazy! Why would anyone want to kill the Avatar? It's because of him we are at peace." The Firelord argues with me.

"Yeh but not everyone was thrilled with that, I mean look at the Fire Nation, no offence Zuko, but lots of people wanted to continue with the Ozai regime! And if you remember one of the people who attacked the Avatar is a firebender, we don't know about the other one, but he could well be a fire nation citizen, working together for revenge against the Avatar." Toph turns back to face us, raising a critical eyebrow in doubt.

"You really think people still hold a grudge for 3 years."

"Well it could happen! I mean remember how long Katara held a grudge against Jet, if it wasn't for his death, I'm sure she would still hate him."

"Yeh, but that's just Katara." The Firelord waves his hand, quickly dismissing my example.

"Well that's just the Fire Nation." I bite back at which Zuko throws me a fierce look. Toph slams the table, causing Zuko and I to jolt in surprise which swiftly defuses the argument.

"Back to our topic! Wouldn't that mean that those two have wanted to get back at the avatar for a long time, why only do it now? And could there be more of them?" I watch as Toph leans back in her chair and crosses her arms across her chest, awaiting a response. I take a deep breath and say what's been annoying me for the last couple of hours.

"I think that there's potentially more than those two, I mean why else would Aang be worried about us?"

"That's _**if**_ he's worried for us." Toph mumbles, I just shrug in response _, 'this is all speculation we don't know if any of what we've said is even right.'_

"But wouldn't it make sense?!" The Firelord squeals in excitement. Toph and I snigger at his reaction. He glowers at us before I ask;

"What would?"

"Why Aang left so soon after the end of the war! He's been worried people will go after him and endanger us!" Zuko shouts as if he has just fixed the puzzle.

"But he left like nearly 6 months after the war, a bit late to decide to suddenly up and leave."

"Well maybe something happened?" Zuko counteracts Toph's line of doubt.

"Like what?" I query while furrowing my eyebrows at the possibility.

"I don't know, but something happened that caused him to leave in the end!" A bell suddenly clangs in the room, causing the sound to echo for several minutes. In response to the noise Toph puts a hand to her forehead with her elbow leaning on the table, while shaking her head in frustration.

"Oh no it's midnight and we have to get up at 8!" I sympathise with Toph's complaint, _'I need my beauty sleep'_.

"Ok to summarise. We think some people are after Aang and he's actually not ignoring us but is actually trying to protecting us." I watch as Zuko looks at each of us, waiting for our agreement.

"Yeh but there's still lots of questions unanswered, like why didn't he come to us at the start? How many people are after him? And we still don't know for sure if any of our speculations are correct!" I tell them in my most serious voice. "I mean for all we know, Aang…well… he might not have wanted us to be friends anymore."

"I guess the best place to test our theory is to question those two again." The Firelord responds whilst nodding his head, as if understanding my need to remain pessimistic so as to not be disappointed if the later part of my statement is true.

"You are welcome to try but you won't get any more out of them than I did." The blind earthbender responds with less enthusiasm.

"Hey you never know. I have come to think that I'm pretty good at getting the information I want." Zuko rolls his eyes.

"If you like to think that then go ahead." I cross my arms at the insult.

"You're just jealous because you couldn't get any answers from Aang." Zuko, whilst crossing his arms in a mimicking fashion, argues back.

"I am not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!" The blind earthbender slams her hand onto the table for what was the second time in our little meeting, which doesn't fail to make the pair of us jump from the action, again.

"Stop acting like a pair of babies." Zuko and I look at each other before pouting.

"We are not!" We yell in unison. She puts a hand to her forehead.

"Ay I need Sugarqueen to keep me sane."

"You know I haven't seen Katara in ages." Zuko muses whilst stroking his chin.

"Well I haven't seen you two all that often either. I just manage to have a glimpse of you two and then we all go different ways after those meetings." I retort.

"It doesn't help that the leader of our gang no longer wanted to be a part of it anymore." We fall in a tense silent after Toph's rough but true words. I sigh.

"Let's just focus on trying to get our gang back together. So when are we going to question those two prisoners?" Zuko puts a hand to his chin and looks at us.

"I've got nothing to do after the second meeting tomorrow, if you guys are free?"

"Sure, I can do tomorrow."

"Same."

"Then that's settled we'll meet up after the meeting and head to the police station." With Zuko's confirmation I rise up from my chair with Toph and Zuko in tow.

"Let's hope we'll get some answers then." I say as we head to the door and stepping outside of the room we look at each other again.

"But what happens after that?" The earthbender questions, already thinking ahead of time.

"If our theory is correct then we'll have to somehow persuade Aang that we can handle ourselves." We look at each other solemnly, knowing that it won't be an easy task.

"Well goodnight guys. I'll see you tomorrow." I pronounce in an attempt to rid this forlorn atmosphere that's been created.

"Oh goody another day filled with lifeless meetings, I can't wait." Toph's dry humour makes us chuckle for a bit, before we bid each other goodnight and head off in different directions.

 _'Let's hope that we can get somewhere soon.'_ I think as I walk down the corridor, in exhaustion, towards my room.

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Unfortunately there's not a lot of action, but I thought it would be good to have a whole chapter on what they plan to do next and I hope the bit of humour in it makes up for it. As always please review, I'd like to know what you think of the story. Not sure when my next update will be, I'll try to do it before the end of 2016, but can't make any promises. Anyway, hope you all have a good weekend.**


	6. Any Answers?

**A/N: Hello! I bet you weren't expecting me to update this soon! Well that's all thanks to my last review that spurred me on to write this chapter, so give them a big thanks (but of course all reviews gives me joy when I see them). I hope you enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think of it.**

The Next Day... (Second meeting) Sokka's POV:

"I say that both the Water Tribes are so disconnected from the rest of the world and something needs to be done about it!" I shout and slam my hand against the table, disguising a wince as I did so, _'man that hurt.'_

"It's just the Water Tribe." I glare at the elderly Fire Nation councilman who just said that. I clear my throat.

"I don't need to remind you that it was the Water Tribe that withstood the long century war, if we were just that then we would have been finished off first, am I right councilman?" The elder gulps and looks away, ashamed.

"I meant no disrespect Councilman Sokka." I nod in half satisfaction. Another elder puts his hand up and I motion for him to speak.

"But there is Republic City. The aim of this city is to allow people from all nations to coexist in harmony, so I don't understand what the issue is?" I clutch the bridge of my nose in frustration.

"Listen Mr Ju Pang, do you know the population statistics for each nation in Republic city?"

"I do in fact have the statistics here." He points at a sheet within a stack of papers while smirking at me.

"Good now tell me the statistics, in alphabetical order of the nations."

"Fine." He grabs the paper and then clears his throat. "Air nation is at 0%." My eyes slide to Aang a few rows down who just bends his head down at the statement, obscuring his face from view. I sigh inwardly at the scene, before looking back at the elderly. "Earth Kingdom is at 50%, the Fire Nation is at 40% and the Water tribe is at er..." I watch as the elder widens his eyes and stumbles with the paper in his hand, his eyes not meeting my own. I lean forward on the table.

"Yes Ju Pang, what is the percentage of the Water Tribe?" He looks up, glares at me slightly before coughing and say,

"It's at 10%." I nod, _'just what I thought.'_

"Now Mr Ju Pang I think you've proven my point." I look to address the rest of the nobles. "All I'm asking is for some sort of transportation system to make it easier for people from the Water Tribe to be able to travel to wherever they want to without so much difficulty. It's rare for us Water Tribe people to even see a ship let alone someone to get on one to visit the other nations or to visit Republic City." I sit down to indicate I've finished my request and look to the head councilman for his decision.

"Hm Avatar Aang what do you think of the suggestion?" My eyes turn to Aang for a second before focusing them on the table before me. Aang gets up from his seat to address everyone.

"I think it's a plausible idea, it will allow all nations to intermix which will help further peace amongst everyone. This idea will also allow the economy of each nation to rise and give employment to those who have been fighting in the war for so long." The same elder, Ju Pang, jumps up from his seat in protest.

"But shouldn't the nations remain separate. Is that not why we created Republic City in the first place Avatar Aang?" Ju Pang hisses out. Aang looks him up and down.

"It is. And I agree, the nations should remain separate but what is wrong with other citizens visiting other nations? Mr Ju Pang I emphasise on the word visiting." The sternness of Aang's voice makes me look up in surprise, gone is the pain that I saw in his eyes yesterday and just a few minutes ago, it's replaced with a certain degree of harshness. "If other citizens are able to learn new customs and to know new people from new places the strength between all nations will be much stronger, people will be much less willing to go to war."

"And what if people decide to stay in that nation, what then?" Ju Pang bites out, still furious with the idea.

"Simple. New laws will be instated, everyone will be given their own passport which has the maximum amount of time an individual is allowed to stay and their reason for their visit. Any more questions Ju Pang?" I watch as the elder looks at Aang, speechless, yet utterly frustrated at being out-bested by the avatar in logic, _'I mean what did he expect? Aang being the Avatar meant that he had awesome debatable skills...did I just say awesome? I meant good enough to get him out of a situation, it's not like I admire him or anything, that has long past since he dumped us.'_

"What about we do a vote?" Ju Pang and I nod, though Ju Pang does it more begrudgingly. "Alright, all in favour of a new transportation system that will run across the four corners of the world raise your hand." More than a hundred hands go up. "…and those in favour against raise your hand." about 20 hands go up. "…and to those who are unsure of this development raise your hand." Roughly 50 hands are raised. "Alright that settles it, a new transportation system will be applied, with ships arriving once a week. If a more regular transport is required it will be discussed in a follow-up meeting to discuss whether this project is a success or not. The rest of the meeting will be focused on outlining the route that the ships will take, this will be decided by those who are unsure of this development and supervised by those against the idea. Now what route is preferable?"

 **2 hours later...**

I walk out of the meeting room, trying hard to stifle a yawn. Toph and Zuko catch up and fall in line with me. Toph punches my shoulder, hard. "Looks like you got your way Snoozles."

"Took long enough if you ask me." I grumble while rubbing my now tender shoulder. "Why do you feel the need to keep doing that?" I whine in annoyance. She shrugs.

"How else am I going to congratulate you?"

"Why not a pat on the back or something?"

"I'll go with or something." I growl at her as she smirks at me. "Besides pats are for weaklings." Just as I'm about to refute her words, Zuko steps in, extending an arm in front of me.

"It doesn't matter guys. Now are you up to going to that prison now?" Silence descends on the group and not because of Zuko's question but rather because of the person who passes by us without any acknowledgement. "Hey Aang are you busy?" Zuko shouts, I watch as Aang lifts his head, turning his head briefly to us before concentrating ahead of him again.

"Yes." He mumbles under his breath, but loud enough for us to hear. "I've got to go, but I'll talk to you later Zuko about the meeting."

"Liar." Toph mumbles in a similar fashion to Aang. The words seem to reach his ears as he stops, frozen to the spot.

"If I remember correctly Avatar, this meeting was about the Water Tribe, so should I not be included in this little talk between Zuko and you?" I spit out in anger, _'he still chooses to ignore and lie to us, how dare he?'_ He turns slightly, looking me in the eyes for a moment, we hold contact for a few seconds before he promptly diverts his gaze to the floor. But in those moments I'm sure I saw a flash of pain cross his eyes, but I can't be certain, _'what are you hiding from us Aang?'_

"We've already said everything we need to in the meeting, there's only a couple of things about the route in the Fire Nation that I want to confirm with Zuko about. Nothing important." With that last statement he flees and is soon out of sight.

"Yeh leave without saying bye, like he always does. Coward." I watch as Toph grumbles out, turning her head away from us, but not before I see some sort of glistening in her eyes. I widen my own in shock, _'is Toph crying?!'_ I move closer to her.

"Toph are you crying?!" I say in a mixture of shock and surprise. Then as quick as lightening, I'm slammed into a nearby wall, her hands clutching my shirt tightly.

"I don't cry do you hear me? Toph Beifong does not cry. Especially for a scrawny coward like him. You got it?!" She hisses with such malice it freezes me to the spot momentarily and then I find myself nodding frantically before she throws me against the wall again and walks out of reach. I touch my head tenderly, wincing at the pain, _'definitely gonna be bruised tomorrow. Great I can't believe I asked the great Toph Beifong if she was crying, how dumb can I be?!'_ Zuko walks to me and puts his hand on my shoulder and gives me a concerned look. I shrug.

"Guess I had it coming." I try to joke.

"Yeh I guess you did, but she didn't need to be so rough." He looks behind him before turning to face me again. "We've got to catch up to her before she decides that she doesn't want anything more to do with our little investigation." He smiles weakly in an attempt to break the tense atmosphere.

"Good idea." After a short sprint we are able to catch up to her and we once again fall in line, but this time we continue on in silence till we reach the police station. Toph nods to the receptionist on the table, before taking us down a corridor. She opens one of the doors with a key. As we enter the quiet room I see a man tied to a chair in chains. He lifts his head to look at us, his eyes seem hollow with anger.

"Ah how lucky am I that the Chief of Police has graced me with her presence once again? And look she's brought some guests for me and not just any guests. Am I right Firelord Zuko and Councilman Sokka of the Water Tribe?" I don't know why but his words send a chill down my spine. _'This guy definitely emanates an evil vibe.'_ I step forward towards the guy, while Zuko and Toph stays back beside the door.

"Hello, it's nice to make your acquaintance, I guess. And since you know my name, may I have yours?" The guy snorts at me.

"Haha, I can tell you feel so awkward and why's that? Aren't you used to talking with criminals?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

"Honestly? Not really." He blinks at me, surprise evident on his face at my honestly, then he shakes his head.

"Moshi."

"Huh?" I look at him in puzzlement.

"That's my name."

"Oh right. Ha sorry, I think the meeting has drained my brain cells." I rub my neck in embarrassment, _'well at least he answered me. Wait a second...that's his name?!'_ "Wait that's your name, Moshi?!" Now it's his turn to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Yes it is, don't wear it out." I blink at him, _'if that's his name then that means he could be...'_

"That means you're an Earth Kingdom citizen!"

"Which would mean what exactly?" He questions in a bored tone.

"Well, it doesn't make much sense that you would team up with a Fire Nation citizen, who is a Firebender, since there's still some hostility between the two nations."

"It would if you have a common goal." The criminal responds with harsh coldness.

"Which would be what?" He glares at me before turning his head away from me.

"I think you've out-stayed your welcome."

"He's out-stayed your welcome?! You're in my prison and you will abide by my rules!" Toph shouts to the criminal taking a few dangerous steps towards him, however it doesn't seem to faze him in the slightest, _'interesting'._

"And how far has that gotten you Chief? Not far if you ask me." The vein pulsing on Toph's forehead pushes me to act by standing between her and the criminal.

"Toph just let me talk to him. If he doesn't want to talk then fine. But we aren't gonna beat it out of him." I say gently, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to cool her down. She glares at me and shrugs my hand off her shoulder, crosses her arms over her chest and lets out an aggravated sigh.

"Trust me I tried that and it didn't work." I widen my eyes slightly, _'it seems Toph was pretty desperate for answers to resort to doing that.'_

"Well what about you trust me alright? No interference at all, ok?"

"Fine." She grates out and pushes past me and Zuko and stands right at the back. "But I will know when he lies, so he better watch out." I nod and turn back to look at the Earth Kingdom citizen.

"So you don't like the Avatar?" He begins sniggering at me causing my temper to rise. "What's so funny?"

"You! Weren't you three on first-name basis? All of you refer to him as the Avatar, I for one find it funny. Did the Avatar turn his back on you too? Like he does to everyone else. Well you shouldn't be surprised, he's unreliable and shouldn't be trusted." He smirks at me in triumph and I ground my teeth tightly together, _'how dare he laugh at what's causing us all pain? Would he laugh if his supposed friend turned his back on him?'_

"That's his own fault, if he didn't want to be part of the group any more, why should we stop him?" My words come out surprisingly calm and this must be why the room falls in absolute silence for a few minutes. The criminal straightens his posture and looks at me curiously.

"Do you hate him?" He questions slowly, his eyes trained on my own. I look at him in shock.

"Excuse me?" I splutter out.

"My question was very clear; do you hate the Avatar?" I bite my lip, hard, before I respond.

"That is not an important question."

"It may not seem like one, but it is." I frown at his mysterious wording and then shrug.

"If anyone hates the Avatar then it's you."

"No hiding the truth there."

"But why? Why attack the Avatar?"

"There are many reasons and he added another one last week." The criminal drops his head, obscuring his facial expression from view.

"Which is?" His head snaps up and his eyes are filled with rage.

"He took away my bending and I will never forgive him for that." Everyone in the room gasps. I stumble backwards in shock, _'Aang did what?!'_ I vaguely realise that both Zuko and Toph are at my side, holding me upright.

"That will explain why I thought you were an Earthbender and also explains why that strange aura that I felt around you and Aang last week was vaguely familiar, it's like the time he took Ozai's bending." The Chief of Police says in astonishment. I shake myself and step closer to the criminal.

"But why?"

"You've got all the information I'm gonna give you."

"You still didn't tell me why you attacked Aang, since he only took your bending until after your encounter with him. Did you want to give him a warning about something or did you really want to end him?"

"Ah first name. You **do** still care about him don't you?" I turn my back to him.

"The Avatar doesn't care about us so why should we care about him?" I let out stiffly. He bursts out in laughter once again.

"If that's the case then why are you here?" I spin back to face him.

"Because if you are dumb enough to fight the Avatar then anyone could."

"Exactly. Anyone one could, at any time and any day." My eyes widen in alarm, _'there's something wrong with his words.'_

"What?" He shakes his head and refuses to talk any more, but his eyes are trained on me in defiance. I put my hands on his shoulders, shaking him.

"What are you hiding?!" I practically scream at him while continuing to shake him. He grins at me as if saying that he has won. I'm just about to shake him harder, until Zuko puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Let it go Sokka." I round on him in anger.

"Let it go?! Let it go?! How can I let it go when we are on the verge of getting some answers to this problem, to know whether we need to be prepared for something big that's gonna happen which may endanger lives! How can I?" I holler at him to the top of my voice, my face beginning to get red with the boiling anger within me.

"Sokka cut it out! I've questioned him before, once he gets like this you won't get anything more out of him. Let's go, he's useless to us now." Toph's words manage to break my angry shell. I take one more glance at the criminal and then sigh in defeat.

"Fine. Let's get out of here." I head towards the door and walk out of the room. Zuko runs after me.

"Don't you want to question the Firebender?" I shake my head.

"No, it's obvious that the ex-earthbender is the leader out of the two otherwise Aang would've taken both their bending, which means the other one won't know much or answer at all. You can go and question him if you want, but I'm out of here."

"If that's what you think then there's no need for me to question him either..."

"The Firebender can't talk anyway." My feet screech to a halt.

"What did you say Toph?" She waits till she's close enough to us, her voice dropping to a whisper.

"Some officials recognised him as being previously part of the Triple Triad a couple of years back. We questioned some of the Triple Triad we have in our custody and found out his name is Azuki. He's been mute from birth and lost his parents during the century war and during then he lived in an Earth Kingdom colony. They said he disappeared from the Triad a year ago and haven't been seen since, until now that is." I slap my forehead and shake my head.

"Great another sob story like Jet. That might explain why he was after Aang, for revenge." Zuko frowns at the thought.

"Revenge?" He echoes.

"Yeh, if Aang wasn't in that iceberg then the war wouldn't have gotten so bad and his parents would be alive yadda yadda." I shake my head. "Why do people keep saying stuff like that anyway? The past is in the past, it happened and we can't change it so we should just focus on the now and improve on everything, when will people get that in their head?" They both shrug.

"But you've got to understand where they are coming from. I mean people are still hurt whether you want to realise that or not Snoozles and they want to blame their hurt on someone, who better than the Avatar? It's not exactly easy to blame a whole nation, so why not pluck a single figurehead as their sole target for their hatred?" I glance away from Toph, _'she does hold a good point, but...'_

"I get it, truly I get it more than a lot of people. I lost my mum in that war. But I can't keep focusing on what I lost, otherwise I'll go crazy! I just want to focus on what I gained from the war...like you guys as my friends." Zuko grins at me and places an arm around my shoulders. The corners of Toph's mouth twists upwards into a half smile.

"Nice speech Snoozles. But now's not the time for heartfelt mushy stuff. What are we doing now?"

"We've done the questioning and its obvious Aang found them to be some sort of threat. The two obviously have a grudge against the avatar, but... I don't know the extent of the seriousness. If a Firebender is attacking the Avatar who says more won't join him? Is any civilians in danger, is Aang's life in danger? I just don't know!"

"But most Fire Nation citizens didn't even want to continue the war." The Firelord protests at the idea, half defending his nation in the process.

"But there are people against your regime, they may have stopped over the last year or so, but that doesn't mean they're gone."

"So what now?" Toph probes once again.

"I don't know. Aang isn't telling us anything and neither are those criminals. It looks like we've reached a dead end." I hang my head in shame, _'and I'm meant to be the idea guy, some idea guy I am.'_

"What about we spy on him?" I snap my head up at Zuko's suggestion and Toph raises a critical eyebrow.

"What?!" We yell in unison.

"After the meetings this week we go and follow him, see what he actually does once he goes to the temples. Since that's the only place he stays in after going to any meetings."

"And what would we achieve from that?" I question in curiosity.

"Hey if he's hiding something we'll be able to find out what it is, maybe it would explain why he secludes himself to those temples anyway."

"Besides the fact that those temples used to be his home." I respond dryly and Zuko just shrugs in response.

"Only one problem with your so called genius plan Sparky."

"And what's that?"

"Aang knows seismic sense almost as well as I do, he'll know we're there." Zuko scratches his head for a moment before his eyes brighten up.

"But you didn't teach him metal bending. We could make a special room for us and surface the area with metal and wear metal shoes or something. And in the hours we aren't spying on him we keep a few miles away so he doesn't get suspicious."

"I don't know, what about all our duties?" I ask doubtfully.

"We've got the week off due to these stressful meetings. Uncle Iroh can fill in for me, Suki can fill in for Toph and maybe Katara or Hakoda can fill in for you Sokka."

"Yeh I guess...but how will we get there? It's not like we have a flying bison."

"We could go in the war balloons, that's how I followed you guys to the Western Air Temple after the invasion." I sigh and look to Toph.

"What do you think Toph?"

"I guess a stake out is a pretty good idea and a break from work would be cool." I turn back to face Zuko.

"Alright, a stake out it is." I reach out my hand and we all shake on it.

"Great. Now I need to head to the palace, tomorrow the meetings is all about the Fire Nation and whether they are paying their debt to the world." Zuko clutches the bridge of his nose in his hand. I put my own on his shoulder.

"You'll do fine. The Fire Nation has done so much to repay what they've done and besides you've got us rooting for you."

"Yeh, but there's still some stuffy Earth Kingdom nobles who doesn't seem to think the Fire Nation will ever redeem themselves… but thanks guys."

"I'm just not looking forward for the final set of meetings." Toph states despondently while blowing her bangs off her face. I frown trying to remember what those meetings will be about.

"Why's that?"

"Because it's all about the Air Nation and how they should be repopulated." I grimace.

"Those meetings will be tough, especially as no one knows anything about the Air Nation anyway." Silence ensues upon us. I shake my head, ready to change the topic. "Anyway, I'll ask Katara to come down. It will do her good to be in a different environment, besides dad feels happier staying in the South Pole after being away from it so long."

"Alright then everything's sorted. We are going to get to the bottom of this."

"We hope anyway." I mumble quietly enough for no one to hear me.

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please keep up with the reviews, they really give me a lot of encouragement. Not sure when I'll next update, hopefully before 2016 is finished, but you never know. Thank you to everyone who keeps on reading!**


	7. Fiery Meetings

**A/N: Thank you everyone for your patience with me! I hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

 **Aang's POV:**

"Listen here! The Fire Nation has dutifully and humbly payed more than enough reparations to the world, we even gave supplies and tools for the nations to rebuild what has been broken down. It's not fair that you keep placing the blame on us. Most people in the Fire Nation didn't even want to be part of the war. Your terms are unjust and unfair and are only valid against the former Firelord Ozai, if he were still in power, which he is not. Your treatment is just a backlash and vengeance against him. Not me. So I suggest you reduce the reparation amount that have been increasing every month unfairly!" Zuko shouts, who is spitting in rage.

"You are still your father's son and you are still the one who formally went after the world's only hope for peace, the Avatar!" an Earth Kingdom noble hisses.

"That is unfair and you know it! I have made amends towards the Avatar by joining him and teaching him Firebending which has helped in ending the war." Firelord Zuko fumes.

"Yet, I seem to remember you being the one to turn against the Avatar in Ba Sing Se which led to his downfall!" Zuko sits back on his chair in shock, his mouth moving wordlessly at the biting words. I stare in shock at what has unfolded. I know Zuko was worried about this meeting but I certainly hadn't anticipated the bitterness amongst the nations, time to step in.

"If I may be so bold to interrupt Head Councilman?" The Head Councilman shakes his head as if in a daze and then turns to me and nods.

"Of course Avatar Aang, you may proceed." I nod my head and turn to address everyone.

"Thank you. If I remember correctly the monthly payment that the Fire Nation is required to pay is meant to be fixed, so why has it been increasing?" The same nobleman from the Earth Kingdom passes me a paper which I scan over quickly, it's not long before I find my mouth hanging wide open, shaking my head I quickly snap it shut. "You had a meeting without asking for the attendance of Firelord Zuko and I?!" I hiss in a state of controlled anger. The nobleman sticks his nose up in the air in an arrogant manner.

"The discussion of the tax is not up for debate. Therefore the Firelord's presence was not required."

"And what about my attendance?!"

"We all know how close you and the Firelord are. We knew you wouldn't accept the increase in tax so we excluded you from that meeting. It was only fair to bring justice to the other three nations. Oh wait that's right its two nations, because the heinous Fire Nation are the ones to conduct the genocide of _**your**_ people!" I widen my eyes in shock at his brutal words. Then I grind my teeth together to stop myself from shouting at the man. The Head Councilman bangs his hammer on the table to get the attention of the audience who have since erupted into a turmoil of arguments.

"That is quite enough nobleman Koch! Words such as these should not be said at all, let alone said in the presence of an audience. Would you please apologise to the Avatar for your disrespect." The nobleman sighs and nods his head.

"I'm sorry. I meant no disrespect Avatar Aang. I just wished to show you what I meant." I tighten my jaws some more before releasing the tension. His words are still hurting me, yet I refuse to show everyone in the hall my feelings. I give a tight nod to the man as a show of acceptance of his apology, but I don't say anything else, in fear I won't be able to control my words.

"Councilman Sokka, what do you think of the Fire Nation tax?" The Head Councilman questions to get a feel of the Water Tribe's point of view and to reduce the tension in the air. I sit back down on my chair without looking at anyone or anything and I stare at my hands on the table in front of me, more specifically the blue arrows on the outer parts of my hands. For a moment the air catches in my throat and my eyes sting, before I blink rapidly, and focus onto what Sokka is saying.

"The Water Tribe doesn't see the purpose of the Fire Nation to keep paying needless tax. Have they not helped rebuild all the buildings that was destroyed during the war?" One of the Earth King's advisors scans over a piece of paper and nods. "Has the Fire Nation not helped in bringing up the economies of our nations at their own expense?" Some other people nod their heads along with that same advisor. "And have they hesitated when any nation required resources or tools?" That advisor shakes his head. "Well there you have it. Tax is no longer required." A different nobleman jumps up from his seat in rage.

"But the Fire Nation must be punished!" I watch from the corner of my eye as Sokka shakes in head in frustration.

"They are being punished, and have been punished for more than 3 years now! We need to give them a chance to re-build themselves otherwise we could well be heading into another war. We need to open trade relations with them again, so that not only the Fire Nation can benefit but you _**all**_ can benefit too! There are things that the Fire Nation has that the other nations don't have and could very well use."

"So you are suggesting that we open trade relations with the Fire Nation with no more reparations?" The Head Councilman asks at which a tumult of voices can be heard arguing over this injustice.

"I think there should be a new reparation. I've been thinking about cutting the Fire Nation army in half. That way the nations don't have to fear any more about being attacked as the Fire Nation army will be much smaller than their own." At this suggestion mummers of agreement are heard throughout the hall. The same nobleman though is quick to be critical.

"And how will we know they are abiding by this rule?"

"We simply get a group of three people or so to do a monthly investigation and keep tabs on all army officials and new recruits." Sokka states as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"Alright, those in favour of opening trade relations with the Fire Nation, stopping reparation payments and cutting the number of their army in half raise your hands." At this the majority of hands go up. "Firelord Zuko, do you agree with these terms?" Zuko glances at Sokka briefly, sighs and nods his head.

"Yes, I do Head Councilman."

"Then it's settled. The Fire Nation meetings have finished for the time being. Tomorrow our meetings will be concerning the Air Nation. Thank you Avatar Aang, Firelord Zuko, Councilman Sokka and King Kuei for your time here. This meeting is adjourned." Everyone moves to get up and leaves the hall in an orderly fashion. I get up slowly and trudge out of the room, being the last one to leave.

"What am I doing with my life?" I mumble to myself.

"Yeah what are you doing with your life?" I snap my head up at that oh so familiar voice and let my eyes rest on Sokka, who has his arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the wall beside the door to my bedroom.

"Erm excuse me?" I say, half convinced I've fallen asleep and therefore must be dreaming.

"I was asking you a question based on your own question." I bite my lip in worry _, 'what am I meant to do? He's meant to be hating and ignoring me,_ _ **not**_ _talking to me!'_

"You weren't meant to hear that." I find myself mumbling before I could stop the words tumbling out of my mouth.

"Well I did."

"Aren't you meant to be hating and ignoring me?!" I bite back in annoyance, _'he shouldn't be talking to me. This will destroy what I've been trying so hard to prevent!'_ I watch Sokka's expression, hoping to see him get angry and stomp off in a huff, but instead I see something completely different, his eyes actually soften into concern.

"Aang we don't hate you." Sokka whispers slowly. _'Oh no, not what I had in mind.'_

"Yeah like what you and everyone else has been doing to me for the last few years is not enough evidence for that." The ponytailed warrior narrows his eyes at my comment, _'perfect, just what I wanted.'_

"Hey we had a reason for that! You're the one who left us if I remember correctly!"

"Well it doesn't matter anymore. We are done. Now, I'm sure you've got better things to do than staying around here." I step towards my door, my hand grasping the handle.

"Did our friendship really mean that little to you?" The broken whisper from my once best friend causes me to take a sharp intake, _'Sokka why are you doing this to me? You won't ever know how much I treasure our friendship, all of our friendships. But I can't risk your lives, not anymore.'_ I turn to look Sokka in the eye, only half a metre separates us, yet I feel like we are separated by miles and miles of land which strikes me hard as I've never felt such a distance with any person in my whole life.

"Sokka why are you here really?" I watch as he pushes himself off of the wall and turns to look at me directly. His deep blue ocean eyes pierces into my shadowy grey ones, as if they are holding me captive.

"I wanted to see if you were alright after what that stuck-up nobleman said to you." I press my lips together tightly, having surprisingly forgotten about that incident, until now that is, the words repeating in my mind sends another aching pain into my heart.

"Why do you care?!" I snap at him, losing control on my emotions. I widen my eyes at the harshness of my attitude, but too late the damage is done, I see it from the Water Tribe man's face, his expression scrunching up in anger. He steps that half metre into my personal space, his finger jabbing into my chest.

"You know what Avatar? That's what I've been trying to do for years. I kept convincing myself I couldn't possibly care about a backstabbing, lying jerk." I observe sadly as Sokka starts pacing in front of me, taking angry steps as he walks. "But every time I see you, my heart twists in that ugly way, every time I see you I can't help but feel some sort of pity for you! So after all these years of so called hating you, I find that I still care. Then I ask myself how can I possibly care about someone I hate? How?!" He shouts, looking at me as he yells the question. I shrug in response, in which he grabs hold of both my shoulders, _'what's he doing now?!'_ I internally question with a touch of panic entering my mind. "Let me tell you it's because I never really hated you to begin with. And I can honestly tell you that neither does the gang. No one hates you, we all still selflessly care about you. It's not fair that we can't stop caring after all you've put us through! NOT FAIR!" I swallow and blink at the raw emotion emitting from his words and I try my best to ignore the feeling of my heart plummeting down into my stomach. _'Sokka I didn't mean to cause you all so much pain. I thought you'd forget about me and that this would be all so easy, how wrong was I? But I can't help you. Nothing you say will change my mind.'_ With that thought in mind, I shake Sokka's hands off me and step closer to my door, I make sure to avert my eyes away from him.

"I appreciate your concern. But our friendship is gone and it's not coming back."

"Why?" _'Ah such a simple word yet requiring such a complex answer.'_

"Because that's just how it is. Our friendship is dead, gone and buried. You all just have to accept it." I twist the handle of my door and open it up to reveal my room. I step inside, but I still feel two eyes burning a pair of holes into my back; I refuse to turn towards them though.

"I know you're hiding something." I freeze at his words, before forcing myself to relax, _'he doesn't know, he couldn't possibly, right?'_

"Think what you like." I say with as much carefreeness as I can muster.

"I will. And not only that but I'm going to find out what it is."

"Good luck." A sigh from behind me indicates that Sokka is indeed giving up in continuing this conversation with me any longer.

"Fine, be like that." I hear a shuffling sound before it stops. "Good luck for the meetings tomorrow, you're going to need it." I swallow, knowing exactly what he means. I sigh before finally turning round to face Sokka, but I find the spot he previously stood in is empty. I frown and then whisper so quietly that it's barely audible a small "Thank you." Yet I get a weird feeling that Sokka heard me anyway. I go and close the door. I turn back and flop onto the floor, before deciding to sit cross legged and put my head in my hands. _'What am I going to do? Tomorrow's meetings will be absolutely brutal. By the looks of today's meeting people are itching to have a right go at me and tomorrow provides them with an excellent opportunity to do so!'_ A tear rolls down my cheek and drops down onto the palm of my hand _._

 _'Why do I have to go through this? Why did I have to give up my friends? Why did I have to be the reason for their hurt?'_ I take my hands off my face and glance up at the ceiling. _'I wonder why Sokka came to see me, he's been doing an excellent job in ignoring me, so why not now? I wonder if Zuko had some say in this, just like he had a say in their questioning a couple of days ago. I hope they never find out the truth. That's what Sokka's trying to do, well I'm not going to let him or them. Not now, not ever.'_

 **A/N: Hopefully this chapter has managed to satisfy your reading hunger for now and I hope that you've enjoyed reading it. As always review, review, review! Your words really do mean a lot to me and I love hearing from you, they give me such a confidence boost that you wouldn't believe. Thanks for reading and my next update should hopefully be soon, especially as I've already written it and only need to edit it. Until next time… :)**


	8. Bitterness

**A/N: Well this is the update I promised you about. Sorry I didn't upload it sooner, but I've been bored and busy, (no that does NOT mean I'm abandoning this story), I just feel like I couldn't be bothered with some things lately, but I had some free time to refine this chapter and post it. Enjoy!**

 **Aang's POV:**

Waking up from a restless sleep I glance up at the clock to find that I have two hours before the upcoming dreaded meeting. Sighing, I get up and get ready quickly. I find that I still have over an hour before I need to arrive. _'I guess I could fly down onto the private gardens and do some mediating to calm my nerves.'_ I turn to my bedside table to find my glider, grabbing it I open the window and hop onto it. I find a nice large space of greenery and swoop down to land. I place my glider down, take up my meditative pose and close my eyes. As I try to concentrate on my breathing, I get a feeling of unsettlement, some weird sense of discomfort. _'Something doesn't feel right here,'_ shaking my head I decide to ignore it and continue with my breathing exercises.

 **In the Fire Nation Palace. Sokka's POV:**

I lean on the wall outside of the meeting hall, waiting for Zuko and Toph to arrive so we can enter in together. But as I wait I decide to reflect on the meeting I had with Aang last night. _'He's definitely hiding something, now I'm sure of it. I just wish I knew what it was. He's not the carefree monk I met more than 4 years ago. He's more secretive, less open, more subdued with a touch of pain coursing through him. But why?! Why couldn't he share his burden with us? We could've helped him, we could've...'_

"Sokka." I look up in mild surprise at my name being called, finding it to be Zuko I push myself off of the wall and step forward to meet him.

"Hey Zuko, what's up?" He shakes his head at me, a slight annoyance gracing his features.

"Did you have to suggest the idea of cutting my army in half?" I gulp, I knew he would ask this eventually. _'I guess it's better to get it out of the way now.'_

"At least you don't have to pay reparations anymore."

"But what if my people are attacked, how am I supposed to defend my nation?!"

"No one is going to attack you after that war we had!"

"And what if they do?!"

"Well, you've the Water Tribe and the Avatar backing you up. You don't have anything to worry about!"

"I guess, but I don't think my advisors will be happy about this." I watch as Zuko bites his lip in worry. I sigh in understanding.

"I know what you mean Zuko, but I was only trying to help. Look on the bright side, now you don't have to pay any more ridiculous taxes and can finally start building your economy up." He nods his head slowly in defeated agreement.

"You're right. I'm sorry, it's just… I've had a lot to worry about. And I want all the nations to finally know that we aren't trying to be the bad guys, not anymore."

"I get it, I really do. But dropping the taxes is a good first step. In the next yearly meeting we can increase your army numbers by 15% or something and gradually you'll get your army numbers back to what they used to be."

"You're right. And opening trade with the other nations again is really good too. That hasn't happened in more than a hundred years." I finally smile at Zuko's positive admission towards my idea.

"See?"

"I'm sorry again. It will take quite a bit of explaining to get my advisors to realise there is good in these new agreements." I wave my hand.

"Forget about it. I'm sure they'll understand that the overall outcome is for the best." Zuko finally returns my smile and nods, his confidence returning to him as he straightens up.

"You should have felt Sparky's heart rate yesterday. I thought he was going to pop!" I spin round to meet Toph's smirking face. I frown at her.

"How long were you there for?" She shakes her head and waves a hand in dismissal.

"Long enough." I look back at Zuko and raise a questioning eyebrow at him regarding Toph's statement. He throws his arms up in annoyance.

"I was stressed ok?! You don't know what it's like to be chewed up and spat back out again!" He expresses in defence while glaring at both of us. I wrinkle my nose in mild disgust.

"Eww, I did not need to know that much detail."

"Just trying to get my point across. Only Aang and I know what it's like to be treated like that." I nod and frown for a moment; I deliberate on whether or not I should mention the conversation I had with Aang yesterday, I debate with myself for a moment more before deciding to tell them.

"Speaking of Aang I went to talk to him after the meeting yesterday." Both Zuko's and Toph's eyebrows shoot up at the same time.

"You did what?!" They shout simultaneously. I nod my head in confirmation.

"Yeah." I respond for the benefit of Toph.

"Why?" They question together again. _'It's like they are reading each other's minds or something.'_

"I don't know. That nobleman was quite out of line last night. I wanted to see if he was ok." Toph crosses her arms over her chest and stares at me.

"You aren't meant to care, remember!" She bites back with an icy coldness in her tone.

"I can't help it!"

"That's not good enough. He doesn't care about us so we don't care about him, as simple as that. We aren't friends with him anymore and we haven't been friends for 3 years!"

"Toph!" Zuko hisses at her in an attempt to rebuke her.

"No I'm right. We aren't. He can die for all I care! You shouldn't give him the time of day, he doesn't deserve it."

"TOPH!" Zuko and I both shout together in shock. _'I didn't realise that Toph felt so bitterly about this.'_

"Toph I know he hurt us." I pause, thinking about how hard it's been without our team leader. "He hurt us a lot. I still feel hurt. But I know you don't wish for anything bad to happen to him. You do care and you hate yourself for it, because you feel you shouldn't. That's why you have all this pent up anger inside of you. I felt, and I guess I still do feel exactly the same. But right now I'm focusing on finding out this secret he's keeping hidden from us, I get the feeling that this is the reason why he left us." Toph stares blankly at me _'and I mean more blankly than usual'_ before turning her head to seemingly stare at the door of the meeting hall.

"I don't want to hear it. Don't ever bring up this conversation again, otherwise the Avatar won't be the only friend you lose." She hisses in a low tone. Her words bite at my heart. I swallow and look away, my eyes focussing on the carpet below me, I try to blink away the stinging pain of tears at the back of my eyes. _'I am so not going to cry in front of them. Toph is just mad and hurt, she wouldn't really break up our friendship, would she?'_ the tense silence pursues for what feels like hours, but could only be seconds. However, suddenly I hear a bang as the doors are thrown open, I look up to see the Head Councilman, whose face is creased with worry. I quickly glance at a nearby clock and realise the meeting should've started ten minutes ago. _'Oh man, how could I have forgot?! I should have left this subject for later.'_ I take a few steps towards the Head Councilman to meet him halfway with the intention of apologising.

"Where have you been?" He asks sternly. I gulp and rub my neck in embarrassment. _'Although the Head Councilman is fair he can also be strict at the best of times.'_

"I sincerely apologise Head Councilman. We were talking about a pressing issue and I guess the time slipped away from us." His eyes move from mine to look behind me at Toph and Zuko.

"I see, and where is Avatar Aang?" I blink in surprise and raise a questioning eyebrow.

"Isn't the Avatar already inside?" I watch as he frowns and his facial expressions take on a look of worry once more. His reaction begins to send a sense of dread within me.

"No he isn't. He was meant to arrive 15 minutes early to discuss with me a couple of matters before the meeting began. But he hasn't shown up and in fact he's late. He's never late for a meeting, especially for this meeting regarding his culture where he should be early. He's not with you?" I frown worriedly.

"No he's not with us." I look behind me at Zuko, hoping he has some idea where Aang is, but looking at his concerned face I get the feeling he's getting worried too. "Zuko when was the last time you saw him?" I question quickly. He steps towards us and shakes his head.

"I saw him at around midnight to discuss the meetings yesterday. He didn't tell me that he would be late for today's meetings though."

"Would you all stop your racing hearts, it's getting annoying! If you are that worried, I could go find him." I widen my eyes in shock at Toph's words, _'I thought she didn't want anything to do with him?'_ Yet instead of expressing my surprise I nod.

"That's a good idea, I don't know why I didn't think about it." I say to her. Turning I look back at the Head Councilman, whose face is thoughtful.

"Should I postpone the meeting then?" I shake my head at his question, he raises a questioning eyebrow in response.

"Don't worry, Toph will find him in no time." Zuko provides helpfully. The Councilman nods his head and turns back towards the door.

"Be quick. No one is especially pleased with the Avatar already." He quickly disappears inside the hall, closing the doors behind him

"Ok let's go." I begin walking down the corridor, but as I pass by Toph she grabs my arm in a vice like grip.

"No, I'm going on my own." I glance at Zuko whose face must be mirroring my own: worried.

"Err I don't think that's a good idea." I say with hesitation, worried Toph will hit me for my double meaning behind those words.

"Plus with the 3 of us, we'll find him much quicker." The Firelord adds, trying to ease the slight harshness of my words.

"No. You've all had your chance to talk to him, now it's my turn." I bite my lip in apprehension.

"Toph..." I try to argue, but her grip increases in pressure.

"I won't do anything to hurt him." I sigh at her words, letting go of a breath I didn't realise I was holding. "Not much anyway." She mutters quietly, but I still hear it, alarm bells go off in my mind, and I know what Toph is implying.

"Can't you do that later? He's already late for this meeting." She shakes her head stubbornly. I look back at Zuko who just shrugs helplessly then after a quick emotion passes through his face, one that I can't quite place, he gives me a definite nod and indicates to me to let her do as she wishes. "Fine. Just make sure he's at least presentable for the meeting and don't take any longer than 20 minutes, any longer than that we'll come after you both." She nods her head in agreement and releases her grip on my arm. Less than a minute later she walks out of view. Zuko comes and stands beside me, still looking at the direction she went off in. I turn my head to face him. "Do you really think that was a good idea? She sounds like she wants to rip his head off."

"Yes. First of all Aang is the Avatar, he can defend himself if he needs to and secondly as you said, I don't think she will really hurt him. She cares too much to do that." I sigh.

"Aang doesn't like to fight. I know he won't fight her if she does go to the extreme."

"Just wait and see."

"I hope it all turns out to be for the good."

"You know I'm intrigued to know why you've stopped hating Aang. For 3 years you wanted nothing to do with him and now you are going out of your way to converse with him. Not that it's a bad thing or anything, but I'm just curious as to know why?" I turn my head away from him and bite my lip so hard that I draw blood.

"When we questioned him in the beginning of the week, I...I...it was the first time I was so close to him. The first time for more than 3 years that I actually got a good look at him. After hating, despising even at one point loathing him. I saw something in his eyes that stopped all that in a heartbeat."

"What's that?" I turn back to face Zuko, my blue eyes piercing into his fiery orange ones.

"The pain in his eyes. That tore me apart. It was something so obvious, yet I didn't even realise it for all these years. How could I? How long has he been in that pain? Have you seen it since you were a lot more connected with him than we were? And then I saw that bruise on his arm. He's hurting, I don't know how badly, but it's enough to be seen in his eyes. If only Toph could see it, she would forgive him like that." I snap my fingers swiftly.

"I did notice the pain, it was about 6 months after he broke away from us, since that was the first time I saw him after that break up. I didn't think to mention it because you were all so wrapped up in your anger that I was worried you wouldn't even care anymore."

"Man I thought I hated him. I really did. But I realised that if my hate was actually able to dissipate due to looking at him once in the eyes. I realise that my feelings couldn't possibly be hate. It had to be a mixture of hurt and anger, nothing else. Boy was I shocked when I found that out." I say chucking humourlessly.

"Don't worry about it. We all make mistakes. It was my fault that I chased him away from us." Zuko averts his eyes away from mine in embarrassment, I grab his shoulder, forcing him to look back at me.

"You still blame yourself for that?!" I ask in a preposterous tone.

"It's true. He left right after he found out. He might've stayed if that didn't happen. If I never did that." I shake my head vigorously.

"No, that was an excuse he used to get away from us. He wouldn't distance himself from all of us because of that. It was something else and deep down you know that Zuko, so quit blaming yourself. It's not healthy anyway." I watch as the corners of his mouth twitches upwards into a small smile.

"You're right. Thanks." I flash him a smile in return.

"Anytime Firelord." I slap him on the back in a friendly manner.

"Ow! You're nearly as bad as Toph." I gasp in mock horror.

"No one is anywhere near as bad as Toph. I didn't even hit you that hard!"

"You did!"

"Weakling." I mutter under my breath. Zuko glares at me and then turns round and heads for the door. "What are you doing?" I question curiously as I sprint to catch up with him.

"We might as well wait for them inside the hall." The Firelord responds as he reaches for the door handle.

"Good point." We push the door open and step inside.

 **A/N: Not much action in this chapter, I know. But the next few will hopefully have lots more angst, because we are reaching the peak of this story. PLEASE REVIEW! I have decided that I won't post the next chapter until I have at least one review for each time I post a new chapter, so if you are really enjoying this story, just let me know, it does a lot in terms of encouragement. Anyway, hope you all have a good day :)**


	9. Hatred & Pain

**A/N: I am officially Exam free! It feels good to be relaxing and doing nothing. Sooo I've got a 3 month summer holiday and I intend to update more frequently. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

 **Aang POV:**

No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to connect with my inner peace and I find I am unable to let my troubles flow down the river. Mediating has never been hard for me before, but there's something about this atmosphere, or maybe the environment that unsettles me. I sigh, I probably should be heading back for that dreadful meeting. I try one last time to connect with the spirit deep within me, yet I still don't feel the peace that I long for. Throwing my hands in the air I shout angrily,

"Why is this so HARD?!" I feel the wind brushing past my cheek, but I get no response to my question. I shake my head in frustration. "Fine don't answer me!" I know it seems like I'm talking to myself, but the wind blowing past me is something I usually associate with the Air Nomads presence, though they never responded to me before, I don't know why I expected anything different this time.

"Maybe it's because you make it so hard." The sudden cold voice startles me. I jump to my feet and take up my fighting stance, when I find the speaker to be Toph I relax my stance, but my body maintains its rigidness in anticipation of what will happen. _'Why is everyone from the old gang trying to buddy up with me? How many times do I have to make it clear to them that our friendship is broken, and that I'm the one that broke it and I'm also the one who wants it to remain broken!'_ I contemplate whether I should just ignore her or reply. But as my eyes focus on Toph's tense stance, I decide it would be safer for me to reply _'an angry Toph leads to a world of pain.'_ I think bitterly, before finally deciding to question her presence.

"What are you doing here?"

"You're late." I blink a few times, trying to comprehend the meaning of her words, my eyes widen suddenly in understanding, _'oh no, the meeting!'_ I slap my forehead in frustration.

"Oh man." I mutter as I bend down to grab my staff, but as soon as I stoop down to pick it up, I find it encased in rock. Just as I'm about to dismantle the rock binding I find it shifting and moving along the ground towards Toph. I stand up straight again and glare at her, knowing exactly what she wants, _'a confrontation.'_

"Toph I don't have time for this now!" I snap at her, barely able to hold control on my anger from all the stress that's being piled up on me.

"I don't care. What I do care about is finding out what is your problem?!" I gape at her for a moment, before shaking my head and reminding myself that this is Toph, who has _**never**_ cared much about keeping up appearances.

"The only problem I have is that you aren't letting me go to the meeting!"

"You're lying!" I bite my lip in worry and silently berate myself, _'way to go Aang! Why not tell her that you've been targeted for numerous assassinations_ while you're at it?!' I groan inwardly. ' _I really don't have time for this!'_

"Maybe we can argue about this another time, but right now I've got an important meeting to get to which decides the future of the Air Nation." I respond quickly with mock-confidence.

"What Air Nation? There is no Air Nation!" I close my eyes tightly in anguish, her brutal words, unfortunately hold truth in them, yet I'm so shocked that she would actually say that, knowing how much that would hurt me. My shock is so great that I actually take a step back, away from her. I feel the vibrations as she takes a hesitant step towards me, _'it's like she regrets what she said, but Toph never regrets anything, I must be misreading her.'_ I resist the urge to open my eyes and keep my attention on my surroundings.

Suddenly I'm all too aware of the presence of something, no wait, somebody or somebodies hiding between the trees a few metres away _. 'Oh no, they can't be who I think they are.'_ I hone in my sensitivity and pick up the vibrations, telling me exactly what I didn't want to know, _'but how come Toph hasn't picked them up? Maybe she's too focussed on her emotions that she isn't taking any notice. I've got to anger her some more to get her away from here, but what? Anything I say she'll pick up on any lies...unless I'm not in range.'_ An idea quickly forms in my head, with a vague plan outlined I open my eyes and look at her. Her expression is a mixture of anger and remorse. _'All I've got to do is make sure her anger outweighs her remorse.'_

"Just get out of here.' I hiss at her, in a hopefully threatening voice.

"Excuse me?!" I watch as she reels back in shock at my words, _'I guess she wasn't expecting that response from me.'_

"You heard me. Get out of here now!" She sprints towards me, quickly closing the gap between us and grabs hold of my shirt while slamming me into the trunk of a nearby tree.

"You have no right to tell me to do anything you pathetic excuse of a person." I watch as her features scrunch up into a snarl. _'Not the face you'd like to see on a frequent basis.'_ I push down the suffocating feeling as she increases the pressure on her hold, and I smirk, my next words hopefully will convey my arrogance.

"Yet you find that I'm the Avatar, I do have a right on what goes and what doesn't." She slams me once more against the tree, but this time the force is much greater and my head smacks the tree with a sickening thud, I try to shake my head to get rid of the black spots dancing across my vision. She pushes me up causing me legs to dangle off the floor, _'just what I was waiting for; she's so mad that she'll believe whatever I say now, especially as she can't tell that I'm lying now that she can't feel my vibrations.'_ I try to ignore the throbbing pain in my head as I choose my next words carefully.

"Of course I would listen to people I respect and care about. But I don't care about you, never have and never will. It was all a trick so you could teach me earthbending and so I could fulfil my destiny. It was never about you." With a loud roar she chucks me on the hard unforgiving ground, I gasp in pain as my back collides onto the tough surface. I watch as she tightens her fists in fury. Subconsciously I shrink back into myself, her anger is actually scaring me and making me fear for my life. Instead she walks away from me, her back towards me.

"I hate you. I hate you so much for what you've done to me. To all of us. And I **never** want to see you again, if you **ever** cross my path I'll end you permanently." The chilling tone paralyses me to the spot. I slowly unfreeze as I hear angry steps moving away from me. I reach out my hand to the ground and using seismic sense I wait until her vibrations are no longer visible to my mind's eye. I roll myself onto my stomach and use my hands to push me up into a kneeling position. A sharp pain hits me in the spine, almost making me collapse back unto the earth. My arms shake at the exerted pressure of holding my weight and tears start leaking from my eyes in anguish until my vision is completely obscured, _'why did this have to happen?'_ I take a shuddering sigh, before pushing myself off the ground and unto my feet. The world around me seems to spin and I grasp onto the same trunk that I was ironically pinned to just moments ago. I wait until the vertigo passes and straighten myself up as much as I can. Turning my back on the direction that Toph went in, I shout to the trees ahead.

"I know you're there!" At this a group of 6 people jump out of the branches of several trees. Soon I find myself surrounded by them _. 'Oh just great. Why is there so many?!'_ Two more people come out from behind a tree nearby. One of them with an Earth Kingdom insignia steps closer to me, I presume he's the leader of this group.

"Avatar, how pleasant to meet you." His cunning tone emits a confident air about him, my eyebrows shoot up in realisation of why he's so arrogant. _'He thinks he's going to win this time.'_ I take up a fighting stance, but black dots seem to dance across my vision once more, _'why do I get the dreaded feeling that his confidence is well placed?'_

"What are you doing here? Have you got bored with just attacking me at the Air Temples?" He shakes his head in disagreement.

"No, today we are going to assassinate all the world leaders and those who contributed to ending the Hundred Year War, so that we, the Snipers, can rule over the world. And you're the first one on the list." I gulp and take a subconscious step back, _'this was their plan all along.'_ My eyebrows shoot up _, 'today is the last set of meetings, they've been planning this all along and I haven't done a thing to stop it!'_

"So why have you been just attacking me all these years, why not anyone else?"

"If we attacked anyone else everyone will be on their guard, with more protection. You are the only one who tends to keep secrets from everyone else. With you out of the way, we could've conducted a wise spread assassination all at the same time, but since you were always fleeting from one place to another, we knew we had to pin you down first."

"No. I'm not going to let this happen!"

"Why try to delay the inevitable? You are weak now, dizzy even, I can tell from your feeble stance." I glance down at my feet to find his words ringing true. I tighten my grip on the ground, for once taking an Earthbender stance and look back up, staring at him directly in the eye, the contact is unwavering.

"I may be weak but I'm not out."

"We shall see about that. No matter what happens, Operation Assassination takes place today in 20 minutes." I widen my eyes, _'oh no everyone is still in the hall waiting for me! They are practically sitting ducks. I've got to finish this quickly to get to them before anything happens.'_ I smash my foot onto the ground to create an uneven surface, causing half of the troops to lose their balance but the rest stand firm, _'those ones must be earthbenders.'_ Swallowing, I shift my position to that of an Airbender's stance, in order to throw them off and start throwing air blasts at them as they throw fire and earth. I jump, dive, dodge and evade as much as I can, but the fogginess in my mind slows me down much more than I realise. A chunk of earth hits me square in the chest, making me drop to one knee in pain. _'What am I going to do? Usually I could finish them in no time but this time I'm too exhausted to continue and dare I say it, they're stronger than the usual bunch I get attacked by for the last few years.'_

"What's wrong Avatar, surprised? You should be, we've been watching how you've attacked all our earlier divisions and this is an elite group that are going to push on every single weakness you have." I grind my teeth in exertion. But I pull myself up and dance away from each strike, trying to counteract, but each time I try the offensive I get pushed back by someone else. _'I need help!'_ I scream to myself as a narrowly miss a full on fire blast.

 **A/N: Well, I should think that's definitely added a bit more of a flare to the story, I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I apologise for the lack of length, but I felt it was best to end there so that the next chapter can take place in a different POV. Reminder: Please review and let me know your thoughts, I won't update till I have at least one review ;) Until next time, I hope you all have a lovely day and enjoy the coming summer days!**

 _ **8/6/2017**_


	10. Exposed

**A/N: Hello, I'm still alive! I can't begin to apologise for the lateness and randomness of my updates. I never intended to be this bad, and when I always find writers leaving such long gaps between their updates I get annoyed and now I find myself doing the same! Unfortunately uni is a real mouthful I still got lab reports to do, but I will always make sure to update when I can.**

 **Toph's POV:**

 _'Who does he think he is?!'_ I stop my angry strides and sink to the floor _'...my former best friend that's what.'_ I stifle a sob that threatens to emerge from my throat, resulting in some sort of weird gurgling sound. _'How dare he?! I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!'_ I try to keep up my bitter mantra to get rid of this overwhelming sensation of loss. _'How could I be so blind to not see behind that facade, that lying, cheating, happy go lucky facade?! How?!"_

Suddenly I'm overwhelmed with the urge to lash out, shout, scream or punch something. I spring up and smash my fist into a tree trunk causing it to shake under the impact but nothing more happens. I scream so loudly and so intensely that the birds in the area fly away in haste.

Soon I just flop down in a heap on the ground. _'This is the last time I ever care about anyone again. Sokka, Zuko and Katara are going to have to deal without me. If this is what it's like to have friends then I don't want to have them any more...'_ I squeeze my eyes shut as I think about each one of them, _'...they'll be devastated, but I can't help it; I don't want to be hurt anymore.'_ I let out a shuddering sigh at how much I hurt Sokka earlier today. _'I shouldn't have said that, I know how much he's suffering from what that Avatar did to us, yet I was so selfish and wallowing in my own anger to be sympathetic.'_

I place both my hands on the ground, something I usually do whenever I seek comfort from the troubles of this world. However, as I place my hands on the earth, I feel vibrations of what feels like a fight in the same location of where I left the Avatar. I concentrate harder, trying to see if I can feel his presence. I get my answer a moment later, the vibrations of Aang being slammed into the ground repeatedly as I feel other people being thrown off balance and hitting the ground.

My eyes widen in alarm; _'What in the world is going on?!'_ I jump to my feet and run to the place I was trying so hard to get away from. Weirdly only one thought is present on my mind, _'Please be ok… please be ok.'_ I repeat in my head as I sense the struggles increase. Soon I find myself in the exact place I left Aang in and I'm confronted with the presence of 8 people surrounding the Airbender, who is on his knees withering in what must be agony. I grind my teeth in anger. _'No one hurts my friends but me.'_ I stomp onto the ground and bringing my hands in front of me I send earth spikes at all of them, which catches their clothing and hurdles them into a tree.

"Who dares to interfere?!" A booming voice reaches my ears. _'He must be the leader, lucky him.'_

"That would be me." I step forward and encase him in an earth chamber. Not long after I feel the ground shaking underneath me and hear the splintering sound of rock breaking into lots of small pieces. _'Oh so this guy is an Earthbender. Let's see how good he really is.'_ I smirk to myself. "You don't know what you're in for." I boast and we become engrossed in a dance for about 5 minutes before I'm finally able to pin him down permanently. _'Good think I keep some metal cuffs with me and thankfully they don't know how to metal bend.'_ I grin. _'Man it's good to be an awesome bender.'_

A movement behind me makes me shield myself with rock. Fortunately for that as I feel a hot sensation in front of me. _'What in the world is Firebenders doing here? I guess Snoozles was right in saying that not everyone is happy under Sparky's regime.'_ I let the ground swallow me whilst tunnelling under and pop back up onto the surface behind the firebender. I tap him on the shoulder. When he spins round in surprise I encase him in a thick layer of earth. I quickly assess the situation and find that I've managed to metal cuff all the Earthbenders, encase most Firebenders in rock and the other Firebenders are still unconscious and stuck to the tree that I had pinned them to earlier. Making sure I've counted everyone I spin round and rush to Aang who is on all fours panting heavily. I kneel down beside him, waiting for him to catch his breath.

"How? No, why? Oh it doesn't matter." He says breathlessly.

"I would've thought you could take out a group of 8 people." I say offhandedly.

"I would've… could've but my head is giving me some problems." I bite my lip and look away in shame, _'It's my fault he was too battered to even defend himself. Wait! Why was those people attacking him anyway, could it be a...?'_ Fear grips my heart and I'm unable to finish that thought.

"What happened?" I question worriedly as I hear his panting die down. I feel as he quickly springs to his feet, yet I sense the imbalance in his stance and grab him by the shoulder to stop him from toppling over.

"The meeting, we've got to go! Everyone's in danger!" I widen my eyes in alarm.

"What?!" He shakes his head at my outburst.

"No time to explain, we've got to get there!" I nod and quickly scan the area for his staff. Finding it abandoned beside a tree, I go grab it and pass it to him.

"Can you fly?" I question, well aware of his exhausted state.

"Yeah, just about. Hold onto me."

"Spirits I hate when you do this!"

"It's the quickest way." I begrudgingly encircle my arms around his waist and hold on tightly. My grip increases as I find us leaving solid ground. I decide to talk to distract me from my fear.

"Aang?" A pregnant pause pierces the atmosphere. The only noise I hear is the rushing of wind for what feels like an age.

"Yes?" The tentative response gives me confidence to continue.

"Was that an assassination attempt?" Another pause, but this time shorter than the last, his sigh indicates his unwillingness to reply, but he goes to do it anyway.

"Yes." My heart pounds in fear, _'if someone is willing to take out the Avatar, something big must be up.'_ "They want to get rid of all the leaders and people who helped end the war and they are doing it today, soon, that's why we have to rush." I nod in understanding, before another question takes form in my mind; I decide to voice it out.

"How long?" Another sigh.

"3 years." I grimace, ' _As I finally understand why people say that ignorance is bliss.'_ My heart sinks when I realise I've been a jerk to him while all this time he's been dealing with this _._ I open my mouth to question his actions, but before I can I find us touching land once again. "Listen, no more questions alright? We've got a mission to focus on. After that you can chew me out as much as you want, ok?" I give him a smile, my first real smile in years.

"Good plan." Aang nods and together we sprint to the meeting hall.

 **Aang's POV:**

As we run to the meeting hall, I find my thoughts in a jumbled mess, _'Oh spirits, she knows! I should've been more careful. I should've waited longer before confronting those assassins. What is she going to say, what does she think? What will everyone else think? I just let out my secret in the worst possible way... by being caught in the midst of it!'_

"Aang, are you alright?" Toph's questioning tone breaks me out of my swirling thoughts to find us standing in front of the door to the meeting hall.

"Fine." I say distractedly while grabbing hold of the handle.

"Liar." That biting word nearly makes me pause, but I shake it off, _'Now is not the time for another argument.'_ I push open the door and step inside, half relieved to find the room untouched, yet the fierce glares sent to me makes me flinch, but having Toph stand by my side brings me a sense of comfort to withstand those heated looks.

"Good to see the Avatar has finally decided to grace us with his presence." The nobleman from the last meeting sneers at me. I go and stand on the pedestal.

"I apologise for being so late, but you all must leave immediately!" A chorus of outrage courses through the room.

"After you make us wait for you for nearly an hour you want us to just leave?!"

"Yes Avatar Aang, what's the meaning of this?" My gaze fixes on the Head Councilman and I swallow, unsure what to say exactly, _'Do I tell them about the planned assassinations?'_ Fortunately Toph comes to my rescue and steps in.

"STOP your pretty arguments and LISTEN! You are all in grave danger! A group of rebels are planning to assassinate you all in any minute. So you have to..."

"Well said Chief, now it's our turn to give a performance, but let's do this with some action." I whirl round to come face to face with one of the assassins that attacked me 18 months ago. _'Oh no.'_ I think as everyone else gasps in shock. "Men, FIRE!" A torrent of screams are heard as arrows rain down from above.

 **A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this update, and I'm really sorry it's quite short. I want to say:**

 **I will never give up on this story and I will see it through to the end, because this fic means so much to me. So don't worry about my awful updating schedule, you will see it to the end. And I thank you all for being so patient with me.**

 **To those reading** _ **Will they ever Understand**_ **, I'll try to update that soon, I know it's been a long time since I updated that one!**

 **Please review! I love hearing your thoughts and it does wonders for my confidence as well pushes me to update. No reviews, no updates (hope that's enough of an incentive for you).**


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